T)  1  ^r  rviD Y 


)WINDUBOIS  SHURTER 


ORATORY  OF  THE  SOUTH 


ORATORY  OF  THE 
SOUTH 

From  the  Civil  War  to  the  Present  Time 


By 

EDWIN  DUBOIS  SHURTER 

Associate  Professor  of  Public  Speaking  in  the  University  of  Texas, 

Editor  of  "The   Modern  Speaker"   and   "Masterpieces  of 

Modern    Oratory."      Author   of    "Science   and    Art 

of    Debate,"     "Public    Speaking,"     and 

"Extempore  Speaking." 


New  York  and  Washington 

THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1908 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
The  Neale  Publishing  Company 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Oratory  Not  a  Lost  Art 15 

Don  P.  Halsey 
Literature  and  a  Lost  Cause 19 

C.  Alphonso  Smith 
Puritan  and  Cavalier 21 

William  Gordon  M'Cabe 
Visions  of  the  Civil  War 26 

Nathaniel  E.  Harris 
The  Confederate  Dead 31 

Benjamin  F.  Jonas 
The  Women  of  the  Confederacy 34 

Charles  Scott 
Tribute  to  the  Women  of  the  South 36 

Albert  H.  Whitfield 
Last  Days  of  the  Confederacy 39 

John  B.  Gordon 
Eulogy  of  General  John  B.  Gordon 43 

Stephen  D.  Lee 
A  Southern  Gentleman 45 

John  Sharp  Williams 
The  Young  Lawyer 50 

F.  Charles  Hume,  Jr. 
The  Majesty  of  Law 54 

Charlton  H.  Alexander 
Lawyers  and  Lawlessness 61 

Selden  P.  Spencer 
President  Roosevelt 65 

James  Stephen  Hogg 
Tribute  to  James  S.  Hogg 67 

Alexander  W.  Terrell 
Tribute  to  President  McKinley 70 

Monroe  McClurg 
Upon  the  Death  of  William  McKinley 72 

Marcellus  E.  Davis 
Education  and  Progress 76 

Benjamin  H.  Hill 


M77369 


6  Contents 

PAGE 

The  Uses  of  a  Library 80 

Samuel  M.  Smith 
The  Influence  of  the  Poet 83 

Dunbar  Rowland 
The  Penalties  of  Progress 86 

Thomas  W.  Jordan 
The  Duty  of  the  Educated  Man  to  His  Country     90 

Francis  P.  Venable 

The  Education  of  Women 95 

^  Charles  D.   Mclver 
The  Culture  Afforded  by  Scientific  Training  ...      98 

Henry  Louis  Smith 
The  University  of  Virginia 102 

William  R.  Abbott 
New  England  and  the  South 104 

Edwin  A.  Alderman 
The  South  and  the  Constitution 109 

Hugh  A.  Dinsmore 
No  Colonies 114 

George  Graham  Vest 
The  Strength  of  the  People 116 

Guy  Carleton  Lee 
American  Citizenship  and  the  American  Jew  .  .    119 

Leon  Harrison 
Truth  and  Sincerity  of  Character 123 

James  Gibbons 
The  Case  of  Senator  Reed  Smoot,  of  Utah  ....    129 

Augustus  O.  Bacon 
Reconstruction  in  Missouri 131 

William  J.  Stone 
Justice  to  Jefferson  Davis 139 

Charles  E.  Fenner 
Tribute  to  Winnie  Davis 145 

Bennett  H.  Young 
A  Follower  of  Lee 149 

John  W.  Daniel 
Lee  and  Appomattox 153 

Augustus  O.  Stanley 
Eulogy  on  General  Lee 157 

Colonel  William  H.  Stewart 


Contents  7 

PAGE 

Abraham  Lincoln 161 

Henry  Watterson 
Lincoln  and  the  South 1 64 

Newton  C.  Blanchard 
Lincoln  at  Gettysburg 167 

John  V.  L.  Findlay 

Contributions  of  the  Hebrew  People  to  Human 
Advancement 171 

Morris  Sheppard 
The  Scattered  Nation 175 

Zebulon  Baird  Vance 
On  the  Death  of  Senator  Vance 180 

Charles  W.  Tillett 
The  Great  Mississippi  Valley 183 

John  M.  Allen 

The  Mysteries  and  Glories  of  Duluth  and  the 
St.  Croix 186 

J.  Proctor  Knott 
Man's  Responsibility  to  the  Higher  Law 191 

Clarence  N.  Ousley 
Jeffersonian  Democracy    194 

W.  C.  P.  Breckenridge 
The  Man  with  His  Hat  in  His  Hand 198 

Clark  Howell 
The  Old  Settler's  Home 201 

John  F.  Philips 
The  Banker  as  a  Citizen 204 

Thomas  S.  Henderson 
Frank  P.  Blair 208 

Champ  Clark 
Stephen  F.  Austin  and  Sam  Houston 211 

Robert  Minor  Wallace 
Texas  and  the  Panama  Canal 217 

Robert  L.  Henry 
Tribute  to  Ireland 219 

Charles  A.  Culberson 
The  Division  of  Texas 221 

Joseph  W.  Bailey 
Louisiana    224 

Thomas  J.  Kernan 


Contents 

PAGE 

The  City  of  Shreveport 226 

Edward  H.  Randolph 
Eulogy  of  Charles  Sumner 230 

Lucius  Q.  C.  Lamar 
Tribute  to  Lucius  Q.  C.  Lamar 234 

Warren  A.  Candler 
Life  Lessons 237 

George  W.  Bain 
The  Flag  of  the  Union  Forever 241 

Fitzhugh  Lee 
The  American  Soldier 243 

Joseph  Wheeler 
For  a  Larger  Navy 245 

Richard  P.  Hobson 
The  Navy  in  Peace  and  War 250 

Winfield  Scott  Schley 
The  Hero  of  Santiago 252 

Isador  Rayner 
For  a  Constitutional  Convention 254 

David  A.  De  Armond 
The  Negro  Problem 258 

Eaton  J.  Bowers 
Against  the  Enlistment  of  Negro  Soldiers  ....    262 

James  L.  Slayden 
The  Fifteenth  Amendment 266 

Allen  Caperton  Braxton 
The  Solution  of  the  Race  Problem 269 

William  H.  Fleming 
The  Development  of  the  South 276 

Ezekiel  S.  Candler 
An  Appalachian  Forest  Reserve 280 

Joshua  W.  Caldwell 
Tribute  to  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley 284 

James  Y.  Joyner 
The  Democracy  of  the  South 288 

Henry  W.  Grady 
Reconstruction  in  the  South;    Past  and  Present  294 

Charles  B.  Galloway 
%  Prohibition  in  North  Carolina 298 

Jeter  C.  Pritchard 


Contents  9 

PAGE 

The  Blue  and  the  Gray 302 

William  O.  Bradley 
South  Carolina  and  the  Civil  War 306 

Joseph  A.  McCullough 
The  Third  House 312 

Frederick  W.  Lehman 
The  Magna  Charta 318 

Uriah  M.  Rose 
Eulogy  of  William  B.  Bate 323 

Edward  W.  Carmack 
Chief  Justice  Marshall 327 

Charles  J.  Bonaparte 
The  Last  Stand  of  Lee's  Veterans 332 

Emory  Speer 


INDEX  TO  SPEAKERS 

(Alphabetically  arranged) 


PAGE 

Abbott,  William  R 102 

Alderman,  Edwin  A.  ...  104 
Alexander,  Charlton  H.  54 

Allen,  John  M 183 

Bacon,  Augustus  O.  ...  129 

Bailey,  Joseph  W 22 1 

Bain,  George  W 237 

Blanchard,  Newton  C.  .164 
Bonaparte,  Charles  J.  ..327 

Bowers,  Eaton  J 258 

Bradley,  William  O.  . .  .302 
Braxton,     Allen     Caper- 
ton  266 

Breckenridge,  W.  C.  P.  194 
Caldwell,  Joshua  W.  . .  .  280 

Candler,  Ezekiel  S 276 

Candler,  Warren  A.  ...  234 
Carmack,  Edward  W.  .323 

Clark,  Champ 208 

Culberson,  Charles  A.  .  .219 

Daniel,  John  W 149 

Davis,  Marcellus  L 72 

DeArmond,  David  A.  .  .254 

Dinsmore,  Hugh  A 109 

Fenner,  Charles  E 139 

Findlay,  John  V.  L.  ...167 
Fleming,  William  H.  .  .  269 
Galloway,  Charles  B.  .  .294 

Gibbons,  James 123 

Gordon,  John  B 39 

Grady,  Henry  W 288 

Halsey,  Don  P 15 

Harris,  Nathaniel  E.    .  .   26 

Harrison,  Leon   119 

Henderson,  Thomas  S.   .204 

Henry,  Robert  L 217 

Hill,  Benjamin  H 76 

Hobson,  Richard  P.  ...245 
Hogg,  James  Stephen  ...  65 

Howell,  Clark 198 

Hume,  Charles  F.,  Jr.  .  .   50 

Jonas,  Benjamin  F 31 

Jordan,  Thomas  W.  ...   86 


PAGE 

Joyner,  James  Y 284 

Kernan,  Thomas  J 224 

Knott,  J.  Proctor 186 

Lamar,  Lucius  Q.  C.  ...  230 

Lee,  Fitzhugh 241 

Lee,  Guy  Carleton  . . . .  1 1 6 

Lee,  Stephen  D 43 

Lehman,  Frederick  W.  .312 
McCabe,   William   Gor 
don,    21 

McClurg,  Monroe 70 

McCullough,  Joseph  A.  .  306 
Mclver,  Charles  D.  ...  95 
Ousley,  Clarence  N.  ...  191 

Philips,  John  F 201 

Pritchard,  Jeter  C 298 

Randolph,  Edward  H.  .  .226 

Rayner,  Isador 252 

Rose,  Uriah  M 318 

Rowland,  Dunbar 83 

Schley,  Winfield  Scott  .  .  250 

Scott,  Charles 34 

Sheppard,  Morris 171 

Slayden,  James  L 262 

Smith,  C.  Alphonso  ....  19 
Smith,  Henry  Louis  ....  98 

Smith,  Samuel  M 80 

Speer,  Emory 332 

Spencer,  Selden  P 61 

Stanley,  Augustus  O.   .  .153 
Stewart,    Colonel    Will 
iam  H 157 

Stone,  William  J 131 

Terrell,  Alexander  W.  .   67 

Tillett,  Charles  W 180 

Vance,  Zebulon  Baird  .  .175 

Venable,  Francis  P 90 

Vest,  George  Graham  .  .  114 
Wallace,  Robert  Minor  .211 

Watterson,  Henry 161 

Wheeler,  Joseph 243 

Whitfield,  Albert  H.  . .  .  36 
Williams,  John  Sharp  .  .  45 
Young,  Bennett  H 145 


INTRODUCTION 

As  a  teacher  of  public  speaking  in  a  Southern  uni 
versity  the  editor  has  found  that  Southern  oratory, 
especially  in  modern  times,  has  been  little  exploited. 
While  in  books  of  oratorical  selections  we  find  repre 
sented  noted  Southern  orators  of  the  past, — such  as 
Henry,  Randolph,  Prentiss,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Lamar, 
Benjamin,  Toombs,  Wigfall,  Davis,  Yancey,  Breck- 
enridge,  and  others, — since  the  Civil  War,  with  the 
exception  of  Grady,  public  speakers  of  the  South  have 
received  scant  recognition.  This  is  certainly  not  due 
to  lack  of  material,  for  the  new  problems  of  liberty, 
education,  and  government  that  have  arisen  in  the 
South  since  the  Civil  War  have  brought  forth  their 
expounders  and  champions  who  in  public  speech  have 
proven  themselves  worthy  successors  of  those  states 
men  of  the  elder  period  who  earned  for  the  South  its 
title  of  the  "Home  of  Oratory." 

The  present  work  is  an  attempt  to  give  the  latter- 
day  speakers  representation.  The  period  covered  ex 
tends  from  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy  to  the  present 
time.  Though  this  period  comprises  less  than  a  half 
century,  it  nevertheless  has  been  crowded,  especially 
in  the  South,  with  events  and  problems  that  have 
called  forth  many  noteworthy  oratorical  efforts.  In 
deed,  the  speeches  of  the  South's  public  men  since 
1865  will  reveal  the  logic  of  events  in  the  South  in 
recent  history — our  people's  point  of  view,  their 
spirit,  and  their  ideals — as  perhaps  nothing  else 
could.  Within  this  time  may  be  noted  three  oratori 
cal  periods: 

(i)  The  period  of  Reconstruction,  from  1865  to 
1876.  The  oratory  of  this  period,  fettered  by  a  re- 


12  Oratory  of  the  South 

sincirich  [  of  civil  freedom,  was  largely  confined  to 
Congress,  ajid,  when  the  carpetbag  regime  permitted, 
jbD'iegislaYive. 'assemblies.  The  picture  of  this  period, 
as  portrayed  by  Senator  Stone,  of  Missouri,  in  his 
speech  contained  in  this  volume,  will  convey  some 
idea  of  the  conditions  which  necessarily  restricted  the 
freedom  of  public  speech. 

(2)  The  period  of  Readjustment  and  Reconcilia 
tion,  from  1876  to  1898.     Now  began  the  real  work 
of  readjustment  regarding  the  governmental  and  race 
problems  which  the  War  created  and  which  the  Re 
construction  period  had  only  made  more  difficult.     In 
the  work  of  reconciliation  between  the  sections,  to 
which  the  Spanish-American  War  gave  a  mighty  im 
pulse,  Grady  stands  as  the  representative  orator. 

(3)  The  period  of  what  may  be  termed  Nation 
ality,  extending  from  1898  to  the  present  time.     Not 
that  the  spirit  of  nationality  was  non-existent  in  the 
South  prior  to  the  Spanish-American  War,  but  the 
war  gave  a  great  impetus  to  this  spirit,  and  furnished 
an  occasion  for  its  manifestation.     Generally  speak 
ing,   however,   prior  to    1898   the  attention   of  the 
South's  public  men  was  in  large  measure  absorbed  by 
affairs  at  home;  the  primary  task  was  to  grapple  with 
the  problems  resulting  from  the  Civil  War.     These 
problems,  it  is  true,  are  as  yet  by  no  means  settled, 
but  with  the  reestablishment  of  the  principle  of  local 
self-government,  and  with  a  more  just  and  catholic  at 
titude  on  the  part  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  the  South 
has,  in  turn,  especially  during  the  last  decade,  de 
veloped  anew  a  national  patriotism;    and  nowhere  is 
this  more  manifest — since  popular  oratory  is  always 
an  index  of  public  opinion — than  in  the  speeches  of 
our  present-day  orators. 

Webster  once  said  that  for  real  oratory  three 
things  are  necessary:  the  subject,  the  occasion,  and 
the  man.  The  preceding  brief  historical  sketch  of 


Introduction  13 

Southern  oratory  since  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy 
certainly  shows  an  abundance  of  subjects  and  occa 
sions;  and  it  is  one  purpose  of  this  volume  to  show 
that  there  has  been  no  dearth  of  speakers.  It  would 
be  impossible,  of  course,  to  include  in  a  single  vol 
ume,  or  in  several  volumes,  speeches  from  all  the 
prominent  Southern  orators  of  the  day,  but  it  is  be 
lieved  that  the  speeches  herein  contained  are  fairly 
representative.  At  any  rate,  that  has  been  the  aim 
in  making  the  selection  from  a  mass  of  available 
material.  The  selection  aims  to  be  representative, 
also,  of  subject-matter  and  style.  To  that  end, 
the  editor  has  not  in  all  cases  selected  those  speeches 
which  he  considered  the  best  available,  but  he  has 
aimed  to  give  representation  to  various  subjects  and 
styles — from  the  political  speech  to  the  scholarly  ad 
dress,  from  the  highly  wrought,  emotional,  "fire- 
eating"  style  to  the  calm,  judicial  treatment  and 
purely  intellectual  appeal. 

While  popular  oratory  in  the  Southern  States  may 
have  relatively  more  of  the  emotional  element,  yet, 
contrary  to  an  idea  that  is  more  or  less  prevalent,  rep 
resentative  public  speaking  in  the  South  differs  little 
from  that  in  the  North.  True,  the  point  of  view  on 
political  and  racial  questions  may  be  different,  but 
even  a  cursory  reading  of  the  selections  in  this  vol 
ume  will  demonstrate,  it  is  believed,  what  is  so  often 
the  theme  of  present-day  oratory — that  we  Ameri 
cans  are  essentially  one  people,  and,  as  a  corollary, 
that  no  section  has  a  monopoly  either  of  ideas  or  of 
their  expression. 

In  order  to  have  as  full  a  representation  as  pos 
sible,  extracts  only  are  not  infrequently  given.  How 
ever,  the  editor  has  endeavored  in  all  cases  to  avoid 
the  scrappy,  disjointed,  and  incomplete  extracts  that 
are  sometimes  found  in  books  of  oratorical  selections. 
In  each  case  the  selection  is  given  sufficiently  in  full 


14  Oratory  of  the  South 

to  fairly  exhaust  a  particular  topic,  and  a  careful  ef 
fort  has  been  made  not  to  violate  the  law  of  unity. 

In  most  instances  the  selections  are  short  enough 
for  us.e  as  declamations  in  the  schools  and  colleges; 
and  in  those  cases  where  they  are  too  long  for  such 
use,  the  teacher  or  student,  by  omitting  one  or  more 
paragraphs,  and  supplying,  it  may  be,  a  connecting 
sentence  or  two,  may  readily  reduce  any  selection  to 
the  desired  length. 

The  thanks  of  the  editor  are  due  to  many  teachers 
and  public  men  in  the  South  for  helpful  suggestions, 
and  especially  to  the  hundreds  of  public  speakers  who 
so  kindly  responded  to  requests  for  copies  of  their 
speeches.  In  most  cases,  indeed,  the  material  for  the 
selections  in  this  work  was  furnished  by  the  speakers 
themselves. 

E.  D.  S. 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TEXAS, 
June,  1908. 


ORATORY  NOT  A  LOST  ART 

DON  P.  HALSEY 

Of  the  Lynchburg  (Va.)  Bar;    formerly  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  State  Senate 

[Extracts  from  a  lecture  on  the  "Art  of  Oratory,"  first 
delivered  before  the  literary  societies  at  Hamden-Sidney 
College,  Virginia,  in  1896,  and  thereafter  on  various  occa 
sions.] 

We  frequently  hear  it  said  that  the  age  of  great 
orators  is  past,  and  that  while  oratory  may  have  been 
the  best  vehicle  for  the  diffusion  of  thought  and 
knowledge  when  printing  did  not  exist,  it  has  been 
superseded  and  rendered  useless  by  the  development 
of  the  wonderful  power  of  the  press.  Far  be  from 
me  to  disparage  the  press.  It  is  a  great  and  useful 
institution,  without  which  it  would  be  hard  for  us  to 
get  along.  It  is  the  mighty  engine  of  progress  which 
drags  the  train  of  modern  thought  through  every  vil 
lage  and  hamlet  and  county  and  city,  carrying  inspira 
tion  to  the  people  to  think  higher  thoughts  and  to  do 
nobler  deeds,  and  telling  them  of  the  seasons  when  to 
"take  occasion  by  the  hand  and  make  the  bonds  of 
freedom  wider  yet."  It  is  one  of  the  bulwarks  of 
liberty,  and  I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  for  me  to 
disparage  it  in  order  to  earnestly  combat  the  fal 
lacious  proposition  that  oratory  is  declining.  Ora 
tory  and  the  press  have  similar  missions,  but  functions 
and  methods  essentially  different,  and  they  are  mu 
tually  helpful  rather  than  hurtful.  I  am  a  believer 
in  the  truth  stated  by  Webster  that  true  eloquence  is 
found  only  when  it  exists  in  "the  man,  the  subject, 
and  the  occasion,"  and  the  subject  and  the  occasion 
are  just  as  important  as  the  man.  Oratory  is  an 


16  Oratory  of  the  South 

abiding  faculty  in  mankind,  and  the  supply  never 
greatly  exceeds  or  falls  short  of  the  demand.  It  may 
just  now  be  at  its  ebb,  but  it  has  been  so  a  hundred 
times  before.  It  has  also  been  at  the  flood  again  as 
often,  and  so  surely  as  prosperity  always  follows 
adversity,  so  truly  will  a  temporary  decadence  be  fol 
lowed  by  a  revival  in  oratory.  History  shows  us  that 
the  great  orators  have  appeared,  and  the  great  ora 
tions  have  been  delivered,  in  the  Revolutionary  pe 
riods.  Great  orators  have  always  accompanied  great 
epochs,  and  whenever  there  have  been  wrongs  to 
right,  whenever  there  has  been  truth  to  spread,  when 
ever  there  has  been  the  vital  spark  of  independence 
to  kindle  into  flames  of  mountain  height,  then  there 
have  been  heard  the  voices  of  orators,  clearing  the 
way  and  blazing  the  path  for  the  onward  march  of 
right  and  justice. 

Those  who  argue  that  oratory  is  decadent  forget 
the  unchanging  character  of  human  nature.  The 
historian  Bancroft  has  beautifully  said:  "The  ma 
terial  world  does  not  change  in  its  masses  or  in  its 
powers.  The  stars  shine  with  no  more  luster  than 
when  they  first  sang  together  in  the  glory  of  their 
birth.  The  flowers  that  gem  the  fields  and  forests 
before  America  was  discovered  now  bloom  around 
us  in  their  season.  The  sun  that  shone  on  Homer 
shines  on  us  in  unchanging  luster;  the  bow  that 
beamed  on  the  patriarch  still  glitters  in  the  clouds. 
Nature  is  the  same.  For  her  no  new  forces  are  gen 
erated;  no  new  capacities  are  discovered.  The  earth 
turns  on  its  axis,  and  perfects  its  revolutions,  and  re 
news  its  seasons  without  increase  or  advancement." 

If  this  be  true  of  nature,  it  is  truer  still  of  man. 
It  is  only  in  one  sense  that  it  is  true  of  nature  at  all. 
We  know  that  nature  is  subject  to  change,  and  that 
the  very  stars  themselves  shall  grow  old  and  die  out 
of  the  sky.  But  with  human  nature  it  is  different. 


Don  P.  Halsey  17 

Humanity  may  grow;  it  may  progress;  but  the  same 
influences  which  acted  upon  it  in  the  time  of  Demos 
thenes  act  upon  it  still,  and  oratory  is  as  potent  a 
force  in  the  world  to-day  as  it  was  in  the  palmiest 
days  of  Greece  or  Rome. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  men  who  exercise  the  most 
influence  in  the  world  to-day  are  not  the  millionaires, 
of  whom  we  hear  so  much ;  not  the  Rockefellers  and 
Goulds  and  Morgans  who  dominate  the  realm  of 
finance;  not  the  mere  money-grubbers  who  inhabit 
the  streets  called  Lombard  and  Wall.  They  have  a 
large  part  in  the  world's  affairs,  it  is  true,  but  above 
and  beyond  them  in  influence  and  in  power  are  the 
statesmen,  the  preachers,  the  thinkers,  the  philoso 
phers,  whose  eloquence  is  molding  public  opinion — 
that  great  silent  force  which  is  under  the  world,  and 
which  is  more  powerful  to  move  and  uplift  it  than  the 
lever  of  Archimedes.  These  are  the  men  who  are 
shaping  the  world's  future  history,  and  no  greater  in 
strumentality  is  at  their  command  than  the  queenly 
art  of  oratory. 

No,  my  friends,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  "deca 
dence  of  oratory."  There  are  as  great  orators  living 
to-day  as  have  ever  existed  at  any  period  of  the 
world's  history.  They  may  not  be  known,  having 
never  had  the  opportunity  or  the  occasion  to  show 
their  powers ;  but  they  live,  and  the  world  will  know 
it,  if  the  occasion  arises.  The  art  of  oratory  is  not 
in  decadence.  It  survives  and  will  survive  as  long  as 
time  shall  endure.  Humanity  does  not  change,  and 
the  influences  which  have  acted  upon  it  from  the  be 
ginning  will  continue  to  act  upon  it  to  the  end.  This 
is  not  the  first  time  that  men  have  claimed  oratory  to 
be  a  thing  of  the  past.  As  far  back  as  the  days  of 
old  Rome  Tacitus  lamented  that  the  great  orators 
were  all  gone  and  that  oratory  had  declined,  and  yet 
we  have  ever  seen  that,  when  occasion  called  it  forth, 


18  Oratory  of  the  South 

it  followed  in  as  pure  and  strong  a  stream  as  in  the 
days  of  Cicero  himself.  Thus  it  will  ever  be.  As 
our  needs,  so  shall  be  our  strength;  and  if  ever  the 
time  shall  come  when  oppression  shall  find  a  place  in 
our  land, — when  the  rights  of  the  people  shall  be 
trodden  down,  when  patriotism  shall  need  to  be 
awakened  to  destroy  tyrants,  when  our  social  fabric 
shall  become  rotten  and  need  renewal,  or  when  the 
necessity  shall  arise  to  scare  "Church-harpies  from  the 
Master's  feast," — then  no  one  need  ever  fear  that 
there  will  not  arise  great  men  who,  by  the  power  of 
oratory,  greater,  perhaps,  than  the  world  has  ever 
known  before,  will  arouse  the  people  to  a  sense  of 
their  dangers,  and  lead  the  van  in  the  upward  march 
of  civilization,  enlightenment,  and  Christianity. 
Thus  may  it  be.  Through  all  the  changes  that  are  to 
come  as  "the  great  world  goes  spinning  down  the 
ringing  grooves  of  change,"  may  the  time  never  come 
when  the  voices  of  orators  shall  be  silenced  in  the 
councils  of  our  people,  or  cease  to  mingle  with  the 
chime  of  the  Sabbath  bells  when  men  are  gathered 
together  to  worship  God;  but  on,  on  to  the  time 
when  the  shining  fabric  of  our  universe  shall  crumble 
into  unmeaning  chaos  and  take  itself  where  "oblivion 
broods  and  memory  forgets" ;  on,  on,  until  the  dark 
ness  shall  come  down  over  all  like  "the  pall  of  a  past 
world,"  the  stars  wander  darkling  in  eternal  space, 
rayless  and  pathless,  and  the  icy  earth  like  a  "lump 
of  death,"  a  "chaos  of  hard  clay,"  swings  "blind  and 
blackening  in  the  moonless  air,"  may  the  power  of 
oratory  survive  and  wield  its  mighty  influence,  conse 
crated  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  truth,  and  pointing 
the  way  to  where  the  Angel  of  Progress,  leaning  over 
the  far  horizon  of  the  infinite  future,  beckons"  man 
kind  forward  and  upward  and  onward  forever. 


C.  Alphonso  Smith  19 

LITERATURE  AND  A  LOST  CAUSE 

C.  ALPHONSO  SMITH 

Professor  of  the  English  Language  and  Dean  of  the  Gradu 
ate  Department  in  the  University  of  North  Carolina 

[The  concluding  part  of  an  address  on  "Southern 
Literature,"  first  delivered  before  the  Legislature  of  Louis 
iana,  June  12,  1902.] 

It  is  the  merest  truism  to  say  that  the  War  meant 
far  more  to  the  South  than  to  the  North.  To  the 
North  it  meant  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  well-nigh  unbroken  as 
cendancy  of  a  political  party.  To  the  South  it  meant 
decimated  families,  smoking  homesteads,  and  the 
passing  forever  of  a  civilization  unique  in  recorded 
history.  But  literature  loves  a  lost  cause,  provided 
honor  be  not  lost. 

Hector,  the  leader  of  the  defeated  Trojans,  Hec 
tor,  the  warrior  slain  in  defense  of  his  own  fireside, 
is  the  most  princely  figure  that  the  Greek  Homer  has 
portrayed.  The  Roman  Virgil  is  proud  to  trace  the 
lineage  of  his  people,  not  back  to  the  victorious 
Greeks,  but  on  to  the  defeated  Trojans.  England's 
greatest  poet-laureate  finds  his  amplest  inspiration,  not 
in  the  victories  of  his  Saxon  ancestors  over  King  Ar 
thur,  but  in  King  Arthur  himself  and  his  peerless 
Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  vanquished  though  they 
were  in  battle.  And  so  it  has  always  been :  the  brave 
but  unfortunate  reap  always  the  richest  measure  of 
literary  immortality. 

Do  you  remember  that  tender  scene  in  "King 
Lear,"  where  Cordelia  stands  in  the  presence  of  her 
father,  despised,  disinherited,  forsaken?  As  her  cow 
ardly  suitor  slinks  from  the  room  because  Cordelia's 
inheritance  has  been  lost,  the  king  of  France  steps  for 
ward  and  on  bended  knee  says : 


20  Oratory  of  the  South 

"Fairest  Cordelia,  that  are  most  rich,  being  poor, 
Most  choice,   forsaken,  and  most  loved,  despised; 
Thee  and  thy  virtues  here  I  seize  upon. 
Be  it  lawful,  I  take  up  what's  cast  away." 

And  so  when  brave  men  have  fought  for  the  right 
as  God  gave  them  to  see  the  right,  but  fought  in 
vain;  when  the  bugles  call  no  more,  when  the  ban 
ners  are  tattered  and  trailing,  when  the  shouts  of  vic 
tory  are  forever  hushed,  and  the  miserere  of  defeat 
is  chanted  over  the  graves  of  a  buried  army,  when 
all,  all,  is  lost  save  honor, — it  is  then  that  the  muses 
of  poetry  and  song  stoop  from  their  celestial  heights 
and  lift  the  dear  old  lost  cause  up,  up,  into  the  un 
changing  realm  of  literature. 

More  than  two  thousand  years  ago  Leonidas  and 
his  three  hundred  Spartans  dared  to  confront  the 
countless  hordes  of  Xerxes.  Defeated?  Annihilated! 
But  on  the  pages  of  the  world's  literature  and  wher 
ever  heroic  hearts  respond  to  heroic  deeds,  Leonidas 
and  his  three  hundred  still  stand  outlined  against  that 
Grecian  sky,  an  incentive  to  valor.  More  than  fifty 
years  ago  Lord  Cardigan  and  his  six  hundred  made 
the  immortal  charge  at  Balaklava.  Defeated?  Anni 
hilated!  But  on  the  pages  of  the  world's  literature 
and  wherever  heroic  hearts  respond  to  heroic  deeds, 
Lord  Cardigan  and  his  dauntless  six  hundred  are 
riding  yet.  More  than  forty  years  ago  Pickett  and 
his  devoted  followers  made  their  heroic  charge  at 
Gettysburg.  Defeated?  Annihilated!  But  the  time 
is  coming — it  is  nearly  here — when  on  the  pages  of 
the  world's  literature  and  wherever  heroic  hearts  shall 
respond  to  heroic  deeds,  Pickett  and  his  peerless  band 
shall  charge  and  charge  forever. 

Thus  if  history  means  anything,  it  means  that,  as 
the  years  go  by,  our  national  literature  is  to  be  more 
and  more  permeated  by  Southern  history  and  South- 


William  Gordon  McCabe  21 

ern  traditions.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  will  be  taken 
away  our  reproach — that  of  having  a  history,  but  an 
unwritten  and  an  unknown  history:  for  Southern 
history  will  then  have  been  written  in  the  living  let 
ters  of  a  nation's  song  and  story. 


PURITAN  AND  CAVALIER 

WILLIAM  GORDON  M'CABE 

Virginia  orator  and  educator 

[Extracts  from  a  speech  delivered  at  the  banquet  of  the 
New  England  Society,  New  York  City,  December  22, 
1899.  Of  this  speech  the  reporter  for  the  New  York  Sun 
said:  "Everybody  who  attended  the  New  England  dinner 
came  away  from  the  banquet  hall  commenting  on  the  speech 
of  Professor  William  Gordon  McCabe,  of  Richmond,  which 
was  the  hit  of  the  evening."] 

Gentlemen  of  the  New  England  Society: 

Your  President,  in  introducing  me,  has,  with  cruel 
facetiousness,  spoken  of  me  as  one  of  the  "heroes  of 
the  war."  It  is  true  that  down  in  my  own  country 
you  may  hear  people  (utterly  void  of  imagination, 
and  envious,  perhaps,  of  my  "re-cord")  shamelessly 
declare  that  the  only  people  I've  ever  slain  were  some 
of  my  oldest  friends,  whom  I've  talked  to  death  with 
stories  that  belong  to  the  Pliocene  period  of  anec 
dotal  development,  or  which,  at  the  very  latest,  may 
have  "cheered  the  Aryan  hordes  on  their  weary  west 
ward  march  from  the  tablelands  of  Asia,"  and  that 
the  only  weapon  of  which  I  possess  an  easy  and  a 
natural  mastery  is  that  osseous  one  which  Samson 
wielded  with  such  deadly  effect  against  the  Philistines. 
Never  but  once  before,  I  confess,  have  I  ever  been 
remotely  alluded  to  by  my  ungrateful  countrymen  as 
"a  hero  of  the  war."  And  that  was  years  and  years 
ago,  when  some  of  us  here  to-night  looked  at  each 


22  Oratory  of  the  South 

other  only  along  the  deadly  barrels  of  burnished  steel, 
and  when  my  wildest  dreams  never  pictured  a  time 
when  I  should  gaze,  as  I  am  gazing  to-night,  full  into 
New  England  eyes,  brimming  over  with  such  kindli 
ness  and  gracious  welcome  as  make  even  an  unrepent 
ant  rebel  feel  thoroughly  at  home. 

Thank  God,  old  "comrades  of  the  other  side,"  the 
only  "bead"  drawn  here  to-night  is  not  the  bead  of 
wary  marksmen  along  gleaming  steel,  but  comes 
bubbling  up  in  sparkling  beauty  from  these  foaming 
beakers,  wherein  we  pledge — not  only  lip,  but  heart — 
the  prosperity  and  honor  of  our  common  country, 
greeting  each  other  with  the  glad  hail  which  stirs  our 
hearts  as  deeply  here  to-night  as  when,  well-nigh  two 
thousand  years  ago,  falling  from  the  lips  of  quiring 
angels,  it  stirred  the  hearts  of  startled  shepherds 
watching  their  flocks  on  the  dim  Judean  hills  under 
the  shimmering  stars — "Peace  on  earth,  good  will 
towards  men." 

Every  one  of  your  distinguished  orators  has  in 
sisted  (directly  or  by  implication)  that  the  Pilgrims 
really  founded  and  shaped  the  destinies  of  our  nation, 
and  that  but  for  New  England  patriotism  and  Puri 
tan  devotion  to  duty  and  to  principle  that  little  revolt 
of  '76  would  have  proved  somewhat  of  a  fiasco. 

God  forbid  that,  here  or  elsewhere,  I  should  seek 
to  abate  one  jot  or  one  tittle  of  the  debt  that  the  na 
tion  owes  to  stubborn  New  England  grit  and  saga 
cious  New  England  statecraft.  But  as  in  matrimony, 
the  point  of  view  of  May  and  the  point  of  view  of 
December  are  not  always  easily  reconcilable,  and 
sometimes  end  in  the  divorce  courts,  so  may  it  be  in 
post-prandial  oratory.  In  your  December  oratory,  as 
here  to-night,  you  naturally  have  unfolded  to  you  the 
New  England  point  of  view.  But  come  down  to 
Virginia  and  clink  glasses  with  me  in  May,  when  we 
meet  to  celebrate  (in  far  more  Puritanical  fashion 


William  Gordon  McCabe  22 

than  this)  the  anniversary  of  the  first  permanent 
English  settlement  in  America,  yonder  at  Jamestown, 
where,  more  than  a  year  before  the  landing  of  the 
Mayflower,  was  convened  the  first  legislative  as 
sembly  in  the  New  World,  and  you  will  hear  our 
after-dinner  orators  unblushingly  declare  that,  when 
the  dun  war-cloud  lowered  in  the  East,  and  the  fool 
ish  policy  of  Lord  North  had  denied  the  chartered 
liberties  of  our  "Old  Dominion"  and  her  sister  col 
onies  of  New  England — that  it  was  a  Virginian, 
George  Mason,  who  drew  the  immortal  Bill  of 
Rights ;  that  it  was  a  Virginian,  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
who  first  moved  in  the  Continental  Congress  that 
"these  colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free 
and  independent  States";  that  it  was  a  Virginian, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  who  drafted  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  that  it  was  that  glorious  "rebel" 
and  great  Virginian,  George  Washington,  who  made 
it  good  by  his  sword. 

Come  to  us  with  your  memories  of  Lexington, 
where  that  shot  was  fired  that  went  echoing  round 
the  world;  come  to  us  with  the  story  of  Bunker  Hill, 
where  the  old  Puritan  spirit  blazed  high  and  defeat 
wore  the  mantle  of  glory,  and  we  will  stand  uncov 
ered  before  yonder  noble  monument  in  Richmond, 
from  which  looks  down  upon  us  in  imperishable 
bronze  "the  counterfeit  presentment"  of  the  nation's 
greatest  son,  seated  in  easy  majesty  on  his  mettled 
steed,  serene  and  resolute,  such  as  he  may  have 
seemed  to  his  ragged  New  England  soldiery  and  his 
own  "Virginian  Riflemen,"  clad  in  deerskin  leggings 
and  fringed  hunting-shirt,  as  he  rode  slowly  down  his 
lines,  under  the  Cambridge  elms,  on  that  summer's 
morning  more  than  a  century  ago — while  grouped 
beneath  him  stand  the  heroic  figures  of  those  great 
Virginians  who  shared  with  him  and  with  your 
fathers  the  peril  and  the  glory  of  guiding  the  new 


24  Oratory  of  the  South 

nation  out  of  the  dark  and  narrow  bondage  of  a  royal 
tyranny  into  the  broad  sunlight  of  republican  freedom. 

I  can  but  think,  sir,  that  a  blending  of  the  two 
points  of  view  gives  us  the  truer  perspective  as  to  our 
national  development.  What  you  call  the  Puritan 
spirit,  of  which  you  are  justly  proud,  has  never,  I 
think,  been  confined  to  New  England  alone;  nor  do 
I  believe  that  Virginia  can  claim  exclusive  heritage 
in  the  gracious  and  generous  qualities  of  the  Cavalier. 
Isn't  it,  after  all,  the  American  spirit,  differentiated 
by  environment? 

Environment  is,  as  we  all  know,  a  potent  factor  in 
national  development,  and  I  have  often  speculated  as 
to  what  would  have  been  the  result  had  the  May 
flower,  owing  to  her  lost  "reckoning,"  "fetched"  as 
far  south  as  she  did  north  of  her  original  destination, 
and  had  that  cargo  of  "godly  kickers"  landed  at 
Jamestown  instead  of  at  Plymouth. 

In  the  light  of  alleged  events  in  1814,  I  can't  help 
fancying  what  a  tremendous  lot  of  "Secessionists"  all 
of  you  would  have  been  in  '61,  with  a  wealth  of  his 
toric  argument  as  to  "strict  construction"  that  no 
Yankee  cavalier  could  ever  have  met  successfully  ex 
cept  with  the  heavier  artillery.  Grant  and  Sher 
man  would  inevitably  have  been  "rebels";  Wendell 
Phillips  would  have  threatened  some  "Bob"  Toombs 
of  Massachusetts  that  he  would  yet  call  the  roll  of  his 
slaves  at  the  foot  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  and 
Jefferson  Davis  of  "Brookline"  would  have  sauntered 
across  Boston  Common,  humming  a  stave  about 
hanging  John  Andrew  "on  a  sour  apple  tree." 

Even  as  things  were,  the  "typical  Puritan"  of  our 
time  never  saw  Plymouth  Rock,  and  no  drop  of  Pil 
grim  blood  coursed  in  his  veins, — he  who  "stood  like 
a  stone  wall"  in  the  shock  of  battle, — the  perfect  type 
of  that  glorious  Scotch-Irish  stock  from  which  he 
sprung;  that  dauntless  race,  in  whose  heart  beat  so 


William  Gordon  McCabe  25 

strong  the  fear  of  God  that  there  was  left  no  room 
for  fear  of  any  other  thing;  while  our  ideal  Southern 
cavalier,  "from  spur  to  plume  the  very  star  of  chiv 
alry,"  Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  the  idol  of  his 
Southern  soldiery,  was  of  purest  New  England  strain 
on  both  sides  of  his  house. 

But  however  apparently  irreconcilable  are  the 
points  of  view  of  May  and  of  December,  I  think  I 
can  safely  say  that  their  differences  will  never  again 
be  aired  in  the  divorce  court.  The  Great  Judge  of 
all,  sitting  as  the  God  of  Battles,  has  decreed  that 
they  must  go  back  to  their  billing  and  cooing  again, 
and  Winter — the  hoary  old  reprobate — I  may  blush- 
ingly  remark,  will  still  be  found  "lingering  in  the  lap 
of  May." 

Of  course,  they  will  go  on  saying  hard  things  to 
each  other  from  time  to  time,  but  every  man  happily 
married  knows  that  that  is  a  mere  safety  valve  to 
what  the  old  parsons  used  to  call  ua  true  union  blessed 
of  God." 

I  have  always  heard  that  one  of  the  greatest 
charms  of  this  New  England  Dinner  is  that  a  man 
may  speak  his  mind  here  with  utmost  frankness  and 
need  feel  no  fear  of  giving  offense,  so  long  as  he  ut 
ters  his  honest  convictions  in  courteous  and  temperate 
fashion.  Well,  honest  confession  being  good  for 
the  soul,  I  will  say  that  I  was  not  one  of  those 
"jingoes"  who  clamored  for  war  with  Spain.  But 
as  old  Billy  Stovins,  of  Culpeper  County,  in  my  State 
said,  when  his  fourth  wife  died  (a  strapping  young 
country  girl)  and  the  boys  (with  whom  old  Billy 
played  "short  cards")  came  over  to  condole  with  him : 
"Boys,"  sobbed  old  Billy,  burying  his  hickory-nut 
face  in  a  bandanna  as  big  as  the  maintopsail  of  an 
old-fashioned  man-of-war,  "boys,  I'm  not  only 
grieved,  but  I'm  mortified!'  And  then  catching  sight 
of  his  wife's  twin  sister,  a  buxom  beauty,  as  she 


26  Oratory  of  the  South 

flitted  through  the  room,  he  added,  "But,  boys,  I'm 
getting  sorter  reconciled." 

Well,  I'm  "getting  sorter  reconciled." 
Not  all  the  glories  of  Manila  Bay  or  of  Santiago 
would  have  wrought  this  reconciliation,  but  I  now  be 
lieve,  and  I  think  you  believe  with  me,  that  this 
Spanish  War  has  definitively  brought  about  two  re 
sults  which  have  gone  far  to  justify  in  my  eyes  all  the 
blood  and  all  the  treasure  expended  by  the  nation  to 
secure  them;  one — and  that  the  paramount  one — 
the  thorough  confidence  now  reposed  by  the  whole 
North  and  West  in  the  deep-seated  patriotism  of  the 
South;  the  other,  the  tightening  of  the  blood-tie  be 
tween  our  young  Western  Giant  and  that  grand  old 
motherland  beyond  the  seas,  home  nest  of  Puritan 
and  Cavalier  alike. 


VISIONS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

NATHANIEL  E.  HARRIS 
Of  the  Macon  (Ga.)  Bar 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Confed 
erate  Veterans  in  reunion,  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  June  15, 
1905-] 

Do  you  sometimes,  comrades,  in  your  waking  hours 
behold  as  in  a  dream  the  armies  of  the  South  come 
back  to  life  again,  just  as  they  appeared  some  forty- 
odd  years  ago,  when  they  stood  up  all  over  this  land 
in  battle  line  to  resist  the  invasion  of  their  homes? 
How  many  times  have  you  seen,  as  in  a  vision  of  the 
night,  those  magnificent  armies  marching  along  the 
dusty  highways  of  Virginia,  over  the  dun  fields  of 
Mississippi  or  Tennessee,  or  where  the  white  cotton 
blooms  hide  the  old  red  hills  of  Georgia,  or  the  Texas 
prairies  stretch  away  to  the  horizon,  all  officered  and 


Nathaniel  E.  Harris  27 

ready  and  proud  and  victorious,  as  in  the  days  for 
ever  gone?  I  can  close  my  eyes  and  see  again  the 
iron  squadrons  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
as  I  once  saw  them  rising  up  to  take  their  places  in 
the  battle  line.  I  can  hear  the  bugle  call  of  Stuart, 
of  Lomax,  and  of  Fitzhugh  Lee,  and  I  can  see  the 
plumed  lines  of  cavalry  ride  forward  to  feel  the  foe 
and  ascertain  his  strength.  The  old  infantry  columns 
are  there,  too,  bronzed  and  powder-stained  veterans 
of  a  hundred  battles,  for  the  boys  are  all  in  line,  and 
at  their  head  ride  the  generals,  each  in  his  appointed 
place  as  of  yore.  There  is  Jackson  on  the  flank,  and 
Longstreet  and  Hill  in  the  center,  while  Ewell  and 
Early  and  Gordon  are  riding  to  the  front  just  like 
they  used  to  do  when  you  and  I  were  there  together. 

I  can  see  the  old  battle  flags,  worn  and  bullet- 
scarred,  and  hear  the  drums'  call  to  arms,  the  long 
roll  beat,  as  the  lines  advance,  and  the  pale  faces  of 
the  men,  set  and  stern,  look  out  toward  the  wavering 
ranks  of  blue  in  the  distance.  Now  I  can  see  the 
march  and  the  counter-march,  the  charge  and  the 
counter-charge,  and  the  red  line  of  fire  on  the  battle 
front.  Anon,  the  whirl  of  platoons  and  battalions, 
the  shrill  crack  of  the  rifle,  the  hoarse  roar  of  the 
cannon  as  the  great  guns  are  unlimbered,  and  the 
bronzed  artillerymen  dash  into  place  for  the  awful 
death  grapple.  They  dress  their  lines,  these  old  gen 
erals,  and  salute  their  tattered  veterans  once  again. 

Jackson,  on  the  old  sorrel,  rides  down  the  line,  with 
the  battle  light  on  his  face — and  hear  how  the  boys 
cheer  as  they  catch  sight  of  his  rusty  uniform  and  his 
old  slouch  cap !  There  is  A.  P.  Hill  come  to  life 
again  from  the  ditches  of  Petersburg,  and  D.  H. 
Hill,  and  Pickett,  and  Pendleton,  and  Rhodes,  and 
Anderson,  and  Ramseur,  and  Bartow,  and  Thomas, 
and  Cobb,  and  Evans,  and  Benning,  and  Doles,  and 
Walker,  ordering  the  phantom  legions  into  battle, 


28  Oratory  of  the  South 

while  the  red  cross  waves  at  the  head  of  the  column 
and  the  shouts  of  the  dauntless  heroes  break  again  the 
long  silence  of  the  grave.  And  lo!  out  from  their 
midst,  as  at  the  Wilderness,  or  Chancellorsville,  or 
Spottsylvania,  comes  the  great  commander,  God's 
vice-gerent  in  Fame's  grand  Legion  of  Honor,  with 
his  sword  newly  drawn,  and  the  fire  of  his  mighty 
soul  shining  in  his  face,  to  lead  his  ranks  to  victory 
against  the  foe! 

I  can  always  see  this  army  in  the  sky,  this  phantom 
host  of  dead  heroes ;  they  are  my  comrades,  mine  to 
love  and  remember.  Earth's  hate  and  deadliest  op 
position  can  never  take  them  from  me.  God  bless 
their  heroic  memories  to-day ! 

"On  Fame's  eternal  camping  ground 

Their  silent  tents  are  spread, 
And    glory    guards   with    solemn    round 
The  bivouac  of  the  dead." 

It  was  my  fortune  once  to  be  present  at  the  burn 
ing  of  a  great  city.  The  chances  of  war  had  brought 
our  opposing  armies  together  in  its  midst,  and  the 
dread  implements  with  which  men  destroy  each  other 
were  busied  for  a  long  time  in  the  terrible  work  of 
carnage.  Shot  and  shell  aimed  with  deadly  precision 
crossed  in  mid-heavens,  while  the  lurid  flashes  from 
the  blackened  mouths  of  the  monster  guns  lit  up  the 
scene,  and,  mingling  with  the  roar  of  battle,  the  yells 
of  the  combatants,  the  shrieks  of  the  wounded  and 
dying,  added  a  terrible  grandeur  to  the  scene  which 
no  pen  can  ever  portray.  In  the  midst  of  the  fight 
the  cry  rang  out  that  the  city  was  on  fire.  The 
flames  had  already  gained  such  headway  before  their 
discovery  as  to  defy  all  effort  to  stay  them.  Instinc 
tively,  therefore,  the  two  armies  ceased  fighting  and 
retired  to  the  neighboring  hills  to  await  the  result  of 
the  conflagration.  Here  the  sight  which  met  the  eye 


Nathaniel  E.  Harris  29 

was  thrilling  beyond  description.  Huge  lines  of 
smoke  rolled  upward,  broke  and  deployed  in  mid- 
heaven  and  dashed  the  darkened  sunshine  from  a 
thousand  jagged  edges  into  the  face  of  the  beholders. 
Tongues  of  flame  lapped  the  air,  and  flakes  of  fire 
and  cinder,  like  foam  flecks,  leaped  far  out  of  sight 
into  the  heavens.  Lances  of  light  sprang  from  the 
burning  pile  and  stabbed  the  shrouding  canopy  of 
smoke,  while,  red  and  glaring  and  serpent-like,  the 
long  arms  of  the  conflagration  stretched  away  into 
the  sea  of  sky.  Blacker  and  blacker  grew  the  canopy, 
louder  and  louder  the  roar  of  the  conflagration,  red 
der  and  redder  the  arms  of  flame  that  essayed  the 
blue  empyrean.  Now  bursting  the  pall  of  smoke,  the 
ragged  flame  licked  the  skies,  then  reeling  and  totter 
ing  like  a  drunken  man,  it  bent  far  down  toward  the 
earth,  while  the  pent  thunders  of  its  wrathful  sweep 
broke  in  awe-inspiring  grandeur  on  the  ear.  It  re 
minded  one  of  the  burning  of  a  sin-doomed  earth, 
when,  as  in  the  Apocalyptic  vision,  the  Archangel 
bearing  the  trump  shall  tear  loose  the  planet  from  the 
hinges  of  the  universe  and  hurl  it  into  the  smoking 
furnace  of  its  last  conflagration. 

But  awful  as  was  the  scene,  it  was  destined  to  a 
yet  more  fearful  culmination.  Mark  the  operation  of 
one  of  nature's  mighty  laws:  While  the  mountains 
of  smoke  and  the  giant  heads  of  flame  were  swaying 
up  the  steeps  of  heaven,  the  distant  horizon  became 
overcast.  The  clouds  that  hung  on  the  crest  of  the 
western  mountain  came  scudding  across  the  waste  to 
ward  the  doomed  city.  A  dull  and  sullen  roar,  pre 
cursor  of  the  tempest  rushing  to  restore  the  disturbed 
equilibrium,  broke  on  the  ears  of  the  armies.  In  an 
almost  inconceivable  space  of  time  the  tempest 
rushed  down  upon  the  city.  And  now  was  added  a 
war  of  the  elements  to  the  battle  of  the  flames. 
Flashes  of  lightning  leaped  from  the  smoky  caverns 


30  Oratory  of  the  South 

of  the  skies,  while  the  roar  and  crash  of  the  thunder, 
peal  on  peal,  hushed  for  a  moment  the  din  of  the  con 
flagration  and  fell  on  the  ears  of  the  awe-stricken 
armies  like  the  trump  of  heaven's  embattled  legions 
sounding  the  doom  of  the  earth.  Down  in  weird 
sheets  the  waters  poured,  torrent  after  torrent,  and 
deluge  after  deluge,  as  if  old  ocean  breaking  his 
bounds  had  hurled  his  massive  billows  upon  the  track 
of  the  burning  city.  Men's  faces  looked  pale  as  the 
light  from  above  met  the  light  of  the  burning  piles 
beneath  and  played  in  fantastic  wreaths  on  the  sway 
ing  masses  of  smoke  and  ashes  rising  on  the  tempest's 
wing.  Now,  indeed,  was  a  war  of  fire  and  water,  and 
the  tempest's  piping  voice  urged  on  the  combatants, 
while  the  lightnings,  in  trailing  sheets  of  flame,  hung 
out  their  banners  to  the  struggling  elements.  Down 
came  the  rushing  torrents,  up  poured  the  beleaguered 
flames,  and  blackened  walls  and  charred  columns  and 
swaying  domes  marked  the  scene  of  the  deadly  strug 
gle.  Heaven's  artillery  boomed  and  earth  replied 
with  falling  towers  and  roaring  flames.  On  each 
side  the  serried  columns  sallied  forth  to  grapple  in 
the  contest.  In  mid-air  they  met,  and  hurtling  wings 
and  fiery  balls  scurried  over  the  battle  plains, — now 
right,  now  left,  now  back,  now  forth,  like  leaping 
fiends,  the  earth-born  warriors  grappled  with  the  arms 
of  heaven.  Nor  was  the  battle  long  in  doubt.  Soon 
heaven's  resistless  force  swept  the  fields  in  triumph. 
The  massive  clouds  from  out  their  arsenals  poured 
down  their  torrents  of  flood  and  flame,  and  soon  the 
scarred  and  blackened  bastions  that  fortressed  the 
earth-born  foe  lay  quenched  in  silence  and  in  ruins. 
Heaven's  watery  armies  had  fought  to  save  men's 
homes. 

A  rainbow,  signal  of  the  victor  storm,  hung  its 
wavy  painted  pinions  on  the  cloud's  ascending  ram 
parts,  and  the  armies  fought  no  more  that  day. 


Benjamin  F.  Jonas  31 

So  too,  within  our  homes,  within  our  nation:  the 
storm  must  meet  the  storm,  and  often  out  of  the 
fierceness  of  the  tempest's  wrath,  and  the  fury  of 
the  downpouring  elements,  will  come  the  safety  of 
our  earthly  hopes,  and  the  rainbow  of  advancing 
peace  will  girdle  the  tempest's  retreating  ranks ! 


THE   CONFEDERATE   DEAD 

BENJAMIN  F.  JONAS 
Formerly    United  States  Senator  from  Louisiana 

[Extracts  from  an  address  at  the  laying  of  the  corner 
stone  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  Confederate 
dead,  at  Baton  Rouge,  La.,  February  22,  1886.] 

The  scars  left  by  civil  war  soon  heal  and  fade 
away,  as  does  the  memory  of  the  privations  and  suf 
ferings  which  it  entailed.  The  angry  controversies 
which  precede  and  the  bitterness  which  follows  pass 
away  with  the  generation  whose  quarrels  necessitated 
the  stern  arbitrament  of  war.  New  generations  of 
people  of  the  same  blood  come  together  as  compan 
ions  in  the  same  walks  of  life,  and  join  together  in  the 
same  aims,  aspirations,  and  ambitions,  forgetful  or 
regardless  of  the  quarrel  which  divided  their  fathers, 
the  causes  for  which  have  passed  into  history. 

In  our  own  country  the  time  has  arrived  when  the 
hateful  memories  of  the  war  can  no  longer  be  evoked 
to  excite  political  prejudice  or  passion.  The  sur 
vivors,  old  soldiers  on  either  side,  fraternize  together 
on  all  occasions  and  "fight  their  battles  o'er  again" 
with  mutual  pride  in  the  valor  of  their  country 
men.  They  lend  assistance  to  deck  the  graves  of 
their  departed  antagonists,  and  aid  each  other  in 
honoring  the  memory  of  their  dead.  In  the  mean 
while  a  new  generation  has  grown  to  manhood,  who 


32  Oratory  of  the  South 

believe  that  these  events  belong  to  history  and  have 
no  part  to  play  in  the  active  business  or  politics  of 
the  present  hour. 

I  am  not  here  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the 
causes  of  the  war,  or  upon  a  vindication  of  those 
whose  statesmanship  or  want  of  statesmanship 
brought  it  about.  The  Confederate  soldiers  had 
little  to  do  with  the  causes  of  the  war,  and  few  of 
them  shared  in  the  political  controversies  which  pre 
ceded  it. 

An  angry  and  excited  presidential  election,  in  which 
a  great  number  of  them  were  not  voters ;  the  triumph 
of  a  sectional  candidate,  who  carried  all  of  the  North 
ern  States  and  who  did  not  have  an  electoral  ticket 
or  receive  a  vote  in  the  South ;  a  profound  alarm  and 
feeling  of  apprehension  for  the  future  of  the  coun 
try,  which  prevailed  throughout  the  South,  and  was 
shared  by  the  most  conservative  and  Union-loving 
men  of  that  section ;  while  those  of  the  more  extreme 
views,  perhaps  a  majority,  considered  that  the  only 
safety  for  the  South,  its  liberties  and  institutions, 
could  be  found  in  immediate  separation  from  the 
Union;  a  short,  hurried  and  impassioned  canvass 
before  the  people,  the  issue  being  narrowed  down  to 
immediate  secession  or  co-operation;  the  election  of 
conventions ;  the  adoption  of  ordinances  of  secession ; 
the  solemn  withdrawal  of  Senators  and  Representa 
tives  from  Congress,  following  the  action  of  their 
States;  the  seizure  of  the  forts  and  arsenals  of  the 
national  government;  the  formation  of  a  provisional 
government;  the  firing  on  Sumter;  the  call  to  arms, 
North  and  South — all  of  these  strange  things  passed 
with  the  rapidity  of  a  dream,  and  it  seems  like  a 
dream  as  we  look  back  upon  them  after  the  lapse  of 
twenty-five  years. 

And  so  went  forth  the  Southern  youth  to  battle, 
full  of  hope,  inspired  with  confidence,  thinking  to  re- 


Benjamin  F.  Jonas  33 

turn  conqueror  after  a  war  of  ninety  days.  What 
knew  he,  or  cared  he,  for  the  causes  of  the  war  ?  His 
country  was  imperiled,  his  State  was  in  danger  of  in 
vasion,  an  enemy  was  advancing  upon  his  home,  and 
it  was  his  duty  to  meet  and  assist  in  driving  back  the 
invader. 

"Theirs  not  to   reason   why 
Theirs  but  to  do  and  die." 

And  the  ninety  summer  days  were  lengthened  into 
four  years.  And  the  glamour  of  war  was  gone,  and 
all  of  its  romance;  and,  in  exchange,  its  bitter,  stern 
realities — the  long  campaigns,  the  bloody,  indecisive 
battles,  the  forced  marches,  the  summer's  heat,  the 
winter's  cold,  the  privations,  the  wounds,  the  sick 
ness,  the  prison,  the  retreat,  the  defeat,  the  loss  of 
hope.  Ah,  the  sufferings  and  ills  which  these  men 
bore  bravely  during  those  four  long  years !  And  as 
their  columns  wasted  from  the  ravages  of  disease  and 
death  they  were  recruited  from  home,  until  nearly  all 
except  the  occupants  of  the  cradle  and  the  grave  had 
gone  to  the  front.  And  then  the  war  ended,  and  the 
survivors  turned  their  steps  homeward,  ragged, 
wounded,  maimed,  gaunt,  hungry,  and  hopeless. 

In  memory  I  see  again  these  regiments  and  bat 
talions  starting  for  the  front,  with  music  and  banners 
and  all  the  panoply  of  war;  and  memory  brings  back 
to  me,  and  to  all  of  you,  the  recollection  of  loved 
faces  and  brave  hearts  of  many  who  were  marching 
in  the  ranks,  and  who  are  absent  from  our  gathering 
to-day,  who  will  respond  to  life's  roll  call  no  more 
forever.  We  cannot  strew  flowers  upon  their  scat 
tered  graves;  we  cannot  mark  their  unknown  rest 
ing-places  with  stone  or  monument;  we  cannot  gather 
their  earthly  spoil  into  beautiful  mausoleums  or  cities 
of  the  dead;  but  we  erect  this  monument  in  their 
honor  that  all  people  in  all  time  to  come  may  know 


34  Oratory  of  the  South 

that  the  soldiers  who  died  for  the  Confederate  cause 
are  not  without  love  and  honor  and  reverence  in  the 
land  which  gave  them  birth: 

"Rest  on,   embalmed   and  sainted   dead, 

Dear  as  the  blood  ye  gave, 
No  impious  footstep  here  shall  tread 

The  herbage  of  your  grave; 
Nor  shall  your  glory  be  forgot 

While  Fame  her  record  keeps, 
Or  Honor  points  the  hallowed  spot 

Where   Valor  proudly  sleeps. 

"Yon  marble  minstrel's  voiceless  stone, 

In  deathless  song  shall  tell, 
When  many  a  vanished   age  hath   flown, 

The  story  how  ye  fell; 
Nor  wreck,  nor  change,  nor  winter's  blight, 

Nor  Time's  remorseless  doom, 
Shall  dim  one  ray  of  glory's  light, 
That   gilds  your   deathless   tomb." 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY 

CHARLES  SCOTT 
Of  the  Rosedale   (Miss.)   Bar 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  on  "Confederate 
Day"  at  the  Mississippi  Chautauqua,  Crystal  Springs,  Miss., 
July  30,  1906.] 

Yet  a  little  while  and  the  last  of  the  thin  gray  line 
will  cross  over  the  river  to  rest  beneath  the  shade  of 
the  trees.  These  heroes  of  the  lost  cause  should  be 
and  will  be  remembered  and  revered  throughout  all 
the  recurring  years.  Here,  as  in  all  acts  of  grace  and 
kindliness,  where  the  heart  speaks  best  and  surest, 
it  has  been  the  province  of  the  fair  daughters  of  the 
South  to  point  the  way.  And  so  Decoration  Day 
comes  to  us  as  a  direct  inspiration  from  their  pure 
hearts,  and  if  the  truth  were  known  I  dare  say  that 


Charles  Scott  35 

some  noble  Southern  woman  first  suggested  "Confed 
erate  Day"  for  this  Chautauqua.  And  so  it  is  with 
the  stately  monuments  to  the  Confederate  dead  found 
in  all  parts  of  the  Sunny  South.  They,  too,  are  the 
noble  work  of  our  Southern  women,  inspired  by  their 
devoted  love  and  consecrated  by  their  sacred  tears. 

There  is,  my  countrymen,  just  one  thing  in  all  the 
world  better  and  truer  and  nobler  than  the  Southern 
soldier,  and  that — God  bless  her  now  and  always — is 
the  Southern  woman.  We  can  never  hope,  gentlemen 
of  the  South,  to  adequately  express  our  gratitude  to 
these  noble  women  for  their  labor  of  love.  It  is  im 
possible.  But  Southern  chivalry  and  Southern  man 
hood  will  be  recreant  to  their  loftiest  ideals  and  tra 
ditions  if  we  fail  to  erect,  at  some  suitable  place  in  the 
South,  to  be  hereafter  selected,  a  chaste  and  beauti 
ful  monument  of  the  purest  marble  in  honor  of  the 
women  of  the  South,  who  have  already  erected  thou 
sands  of  monuments  to  its  men.  I  propose,  therefore, 
my  friends,  that  Mississippi  have  the  honor  of  taking 
the  first  decisive  step  in  this  noble  and  patriotic  work. 
She  was  first  in  chartering  an  institution  of  learn 
ing  for  the  higher  education  of  young  women;  first 
to  remove  the  common  law  disabilities  of  married 
women,  to  be  followed  by  a  removal  of  all  their  dis 
abilities  ;  and  she  was  the  first  to  establish  an  institu 
tion  supported  by  the  State  for  the  advanced  educa 
tion  of  young  women.  Why  not  first  in  the  patriotic 
movement  to  erect  a  monument  to  the  noble  women 
of  the  Confederacy?  It  will  partly  express  to  pres 
ent  and  future  generations  our  love  and  admiration 
of  those  who  are  perhaps  more  deserving  of  our  grati 
tude  than  the  Confederate  soldier  himself.  When 
complete,  let  us  chisel  on  the  polished  surface  of  the 
spotless  marble  shaft  the  beautiful  words  used  by  the 
revered  chieftain  of  the  lost  cause  in  the  dedication  of 
his  great  work  on  the  Southern  Confederacy : 


36  Oratory  of  the  South 

"To  the  women  of  the  Confederacy,  whose  pious 
ministrations  to  our  wounded  soldiers  smoothed  the 
last  hours  of  those  who  died  far  from  the  objects  of 
their  tenderest  love;  whose  domestic  labor  contrib 
uted  much  to  supply  the  wants  of  our  defenders  in 
the  field;  whose  jealous  faith  in  our  cause  showed  a 
guiding  star  undimmed  by  the  darkest  clouds  of  war; 
whose  fortitude  sustained  them  under  all  the  priva 
tions  to  which  they  were  subjected;  whose  annual 
tribute  expresses  their  enduring  grief,  love  and  rev 
erence  for  our  sacred  dead,  and  whose  patriotism  will 
teach  their  children  to  emulate  the  deeds  of  our  revo 
lutionary  sires,"  this  monument  is  dedicated  by  the 
people  of  the  South. 


TRIBUTE  TO  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE 
SOUTH 

ALBERT  H.  WHITFIELD 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Mississippi  Supreme  Court 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  dedication  of 
Mississippi's  new  capitol,  June  3,  1903.] 

God  has  so  ordained  that  man  may  meet  the  brunt 
of  some  sudden  storm,  may  live  through  and  master 
some  single  great  crisis;  but  it  is  woman  alone  who 
can  wear  through  the  supreme  crises  of  individual  or 
national  life,  by  the  endurance,  the  fortitude,  and  the 
patience  which  she  alone  possesses. 

And  so  in  the  midst  of  the  gloom  the  woman  of 
the  South  rose  resplendent  to  the  occasion.  She  re 
membered  that  grief  sanctified  makes  great.  What 
though  she  stood  amid  the  wreck  of  desolated  and 
dismantled  homes  with  the  bright  relics  of  princely 
fortunes  strewn  ruthlessly  about  her — the  qualities 
of  the  eternal  granite  were  integrated  into  her  endur- 


Albert  H.  Whitfield  37 

ance.  What  though  her  household  penates  lay  dashed 
to  fragments  on  the  hearthstone,  her  idols  in  the 
eternal  silence,  and  the  power  of  the  despot  attempted 
to  bury,  in  the  grave  of  the  slain,  the  hopes  of  her 
country,  set  its  seal  upon  the  grave,  rolled  the  rock 
upon  the  sepulcher  and  placed  its  watch.  Her  sub 
lime  faith  has  lived  to  see  the  resurrection  angel  of 
the  South  roll  back  the  stone  from  the  sepulcher,  de 
stroy  the  seal,  break  the  fetters  of  political  disability, 
shatter  the  bonds  of  the  industrial,  agricultural,  and 
commercial  subordination,  and  raise,  radiant  from 
the  grave  of  the  old,  the  figure  of  the  new  South,  to 
stand  in  transfigured  beauty,  fronting  the  deepening 
glories  of  the  twentieth  century,  "like  the  winged  god 
breathing  from  his  flight." 

She  remembered  that  whatever  was  sublimest  in 
the  annals  of  Christianity  looms  o'er  the  ocean  of 
time,  like  the  northern  lights,  more  resplendent  for 
the  surrounding  shadows.  She  recalled  that  what 
ever  is  most  glorious  in  the  achievements  of  military 
heroes  has  been  the  triumphs  of  men  who  were 
cradled  in  storms  and  schooled  by  adversity.  She 
remembered  that  whatever  in  literature  is  truly  im 
mortal,  unvarying  history  proves  the  ripened  product 
of  intellects  that  have  towered  to  the  regions  of  per 
petual  sunlight  through  atmospheres  dark  with 
clouds  and  tempests !  And,  remembering  these 
things,  she  called  her  patience  to  her  aid — she  sum 
moned  her  endurance  to  the  tremendous  task;  she 
nerved  the  returning  husband,  or  father,  or  son,  to 
the  herculean  tasks  of  the  years  that  have  just  receded 
from  us.  And  to-day,  women  of  the  South,  if  there 
be  hope  in  this  land,  it  is  due  to  your  courage;  if 
there  be  promise  in  the  future,  it  is  the  result  of  your 
faith;  and  if,  my  countrymen  and  countrywomen,  if, 
I  say,  in  the  years  that  are  to  come,  when  we  who 
stand  under  this  evening  sky  shall  sleep  the  dreamless 


38  Oratory  of  the  South 

slumber  of  the  grave,  when  we  shall  no  more  be 
known  amongst  men,  these  Southern  States  shall  fill 
with  fifty  millions  of  happy  men  and  women ;  if  the 
Isthmian  canal  shall  be  gay  with  the  merchantmen*  of 
every  nation  upon  earth;  if  the  Galveston  of  the 
future  shall  remember  the  Galveston  of  the  tempest 
but  as  a  nightmare  dream;  if  New  Orleans,  and 
Mobile,  and  Savannah,  and  Charleston,  and  Wil 
mington,  and  our  own  Gulfport  and  a  hundred  other 
marts  shall  become  imperial  "cities  proud  with  spires 
and  turrets  crowned,  in  whose  broad  armed  ports 
shall  ride  rich  navies  laughing  at  the  storm";  if, 
above  all  that,  and  better  than  all  that,  literature,  and 
religion,  and  art  shall  fill  this  land  with  temples 
and  lyceums,  and  galleries  glorious  with  immortal 
paintings  and  statuary,  and  with  a  knowledge  univer 
sally  diffused — if,  I  repeat,  that  glorious  day  shall 
come  to  this  land  we  love,  the  land  of  the  magnolia, 
and  the  orange,  the  land  of  the  mountain  and  the  sea 
and  of  the  tropic  stars,  the  land  of  Lee  and  Jackson 
and  Davis,  if  the  coming  years  shall  bring  these 
splendors  to  this  clime,  it  will  be  due,  women  of  the 
South,  to  the  deathless  fidelity  with  which  you  have 
held  fast  to  the  principles  of  justice  and  right  and 
truth,  immutable  and  eternal,  because  of  the  pos 
session  of  which  God  has  made  the  heart  of  woman, 
in  every  age,  the  last  repository  of  the  faith  of  every 
creed  and  the  patriotism  of  every  land. 

Meet  indeed  it  is,  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy,  that 
your  sons  have  determined  to  erect,  in  honor  of  the 
transcendent  women* of  the  South — who  for  forty 
years  have  annually  covered  the  graves  of  your  dead 
with  the  flowers  and  tears  of  fadeless  affection — a 
monument,  the  noblest  in  its  proportions,  the  most 
exquisite  in  its  carvings,  the  loftiest  in  its  inscriptions, 
affection  has  ever  reared  to  make  virtue  immortal ! 
Let  it  rise  in  the  purity  of  spotless  white,  against  the 


John  B.  Gordon  39 

dark  background  of  our  national  sorrows,  high  up 
into  the  serene  heavens!  And  through  the  ages  to 
come,  when  garish  day  has  gone,  and  with  it  the  harsh 
clangor  of  commercialism,  let  the  vast  silences  of 
the  starry  midnight  steep  it  in  holy,  healing  quiet ! 

And  there  through  all  time  may  those  who  shall 
continue  to  place  honor  above  gold,  principle  above 
power,  the  reign  of  justice,  and  truth,  and  right 
above  the  hollow  magnificence  of  perishing  material 
ism,  be  permitted,  in  the  twilight  of  soothed  feeling 
and  softened  remembrance,  to  catch,  faint  and  far 
off  though  it  be,  the  trembling  refrain  of  the  music 
of  the  Sunny  South  of  old ! 


LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY 

JOHN  B.  GORDON 

Late  Commander-in-chief  of  the   United  Confederate  Vet 
erans;    formerly    Governor   of   Georgia 

[Extract  from  a  lecture  under  the  above  title,  given 
many  times  on  the  lyceum  platform.] 

My  countrymen,  I  must  be  pardoned  for  saying 
that  when  I  recall  the  uncomplaining  suffering,  the 
unbought  and  poorly  paid  patriotism,  of  those  grand 
men,  the  American  volunteers,  who  had  no  hope  of 
personal  honors,  no  stripes  on  their  coats  nor  stars 
on  their  collars,  v/ho  wore  the  knapsacks,  trudged  in 
the  mud,  leaving  the  imprint  of  their  feet  in  their 
own  blood  on  Virginia's  snows — when  I  recall  those 
men  who  stood  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle,  fired 
the  muskets,  won  the  victories,  and  made  the  gen 
erals,  I  would  gladly  write  their  names  in  characters 
of  blazing  stars  that  could  never  grow  dim. 

I  want  to  illustrate  the  life  of  a  private.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  that  little  stream,  the  Rapidan, 


40  Oratory  of  the  South 

was  for  a  long  time  the  dividing  line  between  the 
Union  and  Confederate  armies.  It  was  so  near  that 
the  pickets  of  the  two  armies,  by  common  consent, 
refused  to  fire  at  each  other.  When  they  did  shoot, 
they  shot  jokes  instead  of  bullets  across  the  river  at 
each  other,  and  where  the  water  was  shallow 
they  waded  in  and  met  each  other  in  the  middle  and 
swapped  Southern  tobacco  for  Yankee  coffee;  and 
where  the  water  was  too  deep  to  wade  in,  they  sent 
those  articles  across  in  little  boats.  Thus  those  two 
fighting  armies  kept  up  for  a  long  time  their  friendly 
and  international  commerce.  So  great  was  that  com 
merce  that  the  commanders  of  both  armies  ordered 
it  to  stop.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  privates 
ignored  the  orders  and  went  on  trading.  General 
Lee  sent  for  me  and  said:  "I  want  you  to  take 
charge  of  my  picket  line,  sir,  and  break  up  that  trad 
ing."  I  rode  along  the  picket  lines,  and  as  I  came 
suddenly  around  the  point  of  a  hill,  on  one  of  my 
picket  posts,  before  they  dreamed  I  was  in  the  neigh 
borhood,  I  found  an  amount  of  confusion  such  as  I 
had  never  witnessed.  I  asked,  "What  is  the  matter 
here,  boys?  What  does  all  this  mean?"  "Nothing 
at  all,  sir ;  it  is  all  right  here ;  we  assure  you  it  is  all 
right."  I  thought  there  was  a  good  deal  of  a  show 
ing  about  it,  and  said  so,  when  a  bright  fellow,  who 
saw  I  had  some  doubt  on  my  brain,  stepped  to  the 
front  to  get  his  comrades  out  of  the  scrape,  and  he 
began — he  was  a  stammering  fellow — and  he  began : 
uOh,  yes,  G-g-g-general ;  it  is  all  r-r-r-right;  we  were 
just  getting  r-r-ready,  so  we  could  present  arms  to 
you  if  you  should  come  along  after  awhile."  Of 
course  I  knew  there  was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it,  but 
I  began  to  ride  away.  Looking  back  suddenly,  I  saw 
the  high  weeds  on  the  bank  of  this  little  river  shak 
ing.  I  asked  this  fellow:  "What  is  the  matter  with 
the  weeds,  sir?  They  seem  to  be  in  confusion  too?" 


John  B.  Gordon  41 

Badly  frightened  now,  he  exclaimed:  "Oh,  G-g-gen- 
eral,  there  is  nothing  the  matter  with  the  weeds; 
the  weeds  are  all  right."  I  ordered:  "Break  down 
these  weeds;"  and  there  flat  on  the  ground  among 
those  weeds  was  at  least  six  feet  of  soldier,  with 
scarcely  any  clothing  on  his  person.  I  asked: 
"Where  do  you  belong?"  "Over  yonder,"  he  said, 
pointing  to  the  Union  army,  "on  the  other  side." 
"What  are  you  doing  here,  sir?"  "Well,"  he  said, 
"General,  I  didn't  think  there  was  any  harm  in  my 
coming  over  here  and  talking  to  the  boys  a  little 
while."  "What  boys?"  I  asked.  "These  Johnnies," 
he  said.  I  asked:  "Don't  you  know  we  are  in  the 
midst  of  a  great  war,  sir?"  "Yes,  General;  I  know 
we  are  having  a  war,  but  we  are  not  fighting  now." 
The  idea  of  this  Union  boy,  that  because  we  were  not 
this  minute  shooting  each  other  to  death  it  was  a 
proper  occasion  to  lay  aside  the  arms  and  make  a 
social  visit,  one  army  to  the  other,  struck  me  as  the 
most  laughable  kind  of  war  I  had  ever  heard  of; 
and  I  could  scarcely  keep  my  face  straight  enough  to 
give  an  order.  But  I  summoned  all  the  sternness  of 
my  nature,  and  said,  "I  will  show  you,  sir,  that  this 
is  war;  I  am  going  to  march  you  through  the  coun 
try  and  put  you  in  prison."  At  that  announcement 
my  boys  rushed  to  this  fellow's  defense.  They 
gathered  round  me  and  said,  "General,  wait  a  min 
ute;  let  us  talk  about  it.  You  say  you  are  going  to 
send  this  Union  boy  to  prison.  Hold  on,  General; 
that  won't  do ;  that  won't  do  at  all ;  we  invited  this 
fellow  over  here,  and  we  promised  to  protect  him. 
Now,  General,  don't  you  see  if  you  send  him  off  to 
prison,  you  will  ruin  our  Southern  honor?"  What 
could  a  commander  do  with  such  boys?  I  made  the 
Union  man  stand  up  and  said  to  him,  "Now,  sir,  if 
I  permit  you  to  go  back  at  the  solicitation  of  these 
Confederates,  will  you  solemnly  promise  me,  on  the 


42  Oratory  of  the  South 

honor  of  a  soldier "     And  he  did  not  wait  for 

me  to  finish  my  sentence.  With  a  loud  "Yes,  sir,"  he 
leaped  like  a  great  bull-frog  into  the  river  and  swam 
back. 

Now,  my  countrymen,  I  allude  to  that  little  inci 
dent  for  a  far  higher  purpose  than  mere  amusement 
or  entertainment.  I  want  to  submit  a  question  in  con 
nection  with  it.  Tell  me,  my  countrymen,  where  else 
on  earth  could  you  find  a  scene  like  that  in  the  midst 
of  a  long  and  bloody  war  between  two  hostile 
armies?  Where  else  could  you  find  it?  Among 
what  people  would  it  be  possible  except  among  this 
glorious  American  people,  uplifted  by  our  free  insti 
tutions  and  by  that  Christian  civilization  which  was 
born  in  heaven  ? 

The  Rapidan  suggests  another  scene  to  which 
allusion  has  often  been  made  since  the  war,  but  which, 
as  illustrative  also  of  the  spirit  of  both  armies,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  recall  in  this  connection.  In  the  mel 
low  twilight  of  an  April  day  the  two  armies  were 
holding  their  dress  parades  on  the  opposite  hills 
bordering  the  river.  At  the  close  of  the  parade  a 
magnificent  brass  band  of  the  Union  army  played 
with  great  spirit  the  patriotic  airs,  "Hail  Columbia," 
and  "Yankee  Doodle."  Whereupon  the  Federal 
troops  responded  with  a  patriotic  shout.  The  same 
band  then  played  the  soul-stirring  strains  of  "Dixie," 
to  which  a  mighty  response  came  from  ten  thousand 
Southern  troops.  A  few  moments  later,  when  the 
stars  had  come  out  as  witnesses  and  when  all  nature 
was  in  harmony,  there  came  from  the  same  band  the 
old  melody,  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  As  its  familiar 
and  pathetic  notes  rolled  over  the  water  and  thrilled 
through  the  spirits  of  the  soldiers,  the  hills  rever 
berated  with  a  thundering  response  from  the  united 
voices  of  both  armies.  What  was  there  in  this  old, 
old  music  to  so  touch  the  chords  of  sympathy,  so 


Stephen  D.  Lee  43 

thrill  the  spirits  and  cause  the  frames  of  brave  men 
to  tremble  with  emotion?  It  was  the  thought  of 
home.  To  thousands,  doubtless,  it  was  the  thought 
of  that  Eternal  Home  to  which  the  next  battle  might 
be  the  gateway.  To  thousands  of  others  it  was  the 
thought  of  their  dear  earthly  home,  where  loved  ones 
at  that  twilight  hour  were  bowing  round  the  family 
altar  and  asking  God's  care  over  the  absent  soldier 
boy. 


EULOGY  OF  GENERAL  JOHN  B.  GORDON 

STEPHEN  D.  LEE 

Of    Columbus,    Miss.;    Late    Commander-in-Chief    of    the 
United  Confederate  Veterans 

[An  address  delivered  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  January  14,  1904.] 

General  John  B.  Gordon,  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
was  the  most  conspicuous  and  typical  Confederate 
soldier  living,  the  one  of  most  distinguished  per 
sonal  valor  and  the  one  nearest  and  dearest  to  the 
hearts  of  his  living  comrades.  At  the  collapse  of  the 
Confederacy  his  services  had  marked  him  for  higher 
rank  and  larger  command.  He  was  an  ideal  soldier 
and  the  idol  of  the  troops  he  commanded  or  was 
associated  with.  His  imposing  and  magnificent 
soldierly  bearing,  coupled  with  his  splendid  ringing 
voice,  gave  him  a  God-given  talent  not  equaled  or 
possessed  by  any  other  officer  in  the  army — that  of 
getting  in  front  of  his  troops,  and  in  a  few  ringing 
appeals  inspiring  them  almost  to  madness,  and  being 
able  to  lead  them  into  the  very  jaws  of  death.  I 
recently  heard  a  distinguished  professor  of  history 
say  that  in  his  study  of  the  war  he  found  there  was 
only  one  prominent  general  in  either  army  who,  when 
he  was  in  command  or  led  a  charge,  had  never  been 


44  Oratory  of  the  South 

defeated  nor  repulsed,  and  that  general  was  John  B. 
Gordon. 

As  a  citizen  and  patriot  and  statesman  his  career 
was  as  conspicuous  and  successful  as  had  been  his 
record  as  a  soldier.  In  Congress,  in  a  most  trying 
period,  with  Hill,  Lamar,  Gibson,  and  others,  he 
placed  the  entire  State  under  lasting  obligations  to 
him  for  his  wisdom,  patience,  and  fortitude  under 
great  provocation.  He  was  an  able  Governor  of 
Georgia.  He  did  his  full  duty  in  peace  as  well  as 
war,  and  in  his  later  years,  while  as  loyal  to  the 
tender  memories  of  the  Confederacy  as  the  most 
loyal,  he,  after  restoring  his  allegiance,  set  an  ex 
ample  of  loyalty  to  our  great,  reunited  American 
nation.  He  virtually  became  the  great  apostle  of 
reconciliation  and  obliteration  of  sectional  feeling 
between  the  North  and  South.  No  one  could  move 
the  masses  as  he  did,  by  appeals  to  patriotism  and 
pride  of  sections  and  nation,  and  Providence  blessed 
him  in  prolonging  his  life  to  see  the  fruits  of  his 
labors  in  bringing  about  better  feeling. 

But  it  was  in  our  great  fraternal  association  of 
Confederate  Veterans  that  he  appeared  greatest  and 
most  beloved.  He  was  for  thirteen  years,  since  its 
origin,  its  first  and  only  Commander.  His  leadership 
and  wise  administration,  with  the  aid  of  his  splendid 
Chief  of  Staff,  General  George  Moorman,  gave  it 
shape  and  success.  His  hold  on  and  influence  over 
the  old  soldiers  when  he  appeared  among  them  or 
rose  to  speak  was  wonderful  to  behold.  Even  a 
motion  of  his  hand  brought  silence  in  the  great  re 
unions,  when  no  one  else  could  arrest  attention.  He 
loved  the  old  soldiers;  they  knew  it,  and  they  loved 
him  in  return.  No  one  who  witnessed  the  scene  at 
the  Nashville  reunion,  where  he  attempted  to  resign 
his  commission  as  Commander,  will  ever  forget  it. 
He  was,  by  spontaneous  and  wild  acclamation,  com- 


John  Sharp  Williams  45 

missioned  for  life  as  leader  and  Commander.  I 
doubt  if  any  other  man  ever  had  a  greater  and  more 
effective  demonstration  of  love  and  confidence.  Nor 
the  scene  at  Louisville,  where  he  raised  his  voice, 
amid  great  excitement,  in  favor  of  conservative  bear 
ing  toward  the  veterans  of  the  North  when  they  sent 
friendly  greeting.  No  living  Confederate  can  fill 
his  place  in  the  affections,  admiration,  and  love  of  his 
comrades  as  he  filled  it. 

His  private  life  was  pure  and  spotless  and  an  ex 
ample  to  every  American  citizen.  His  devotion  to 
his  wife  and  family  was  beautiful  in  the  extreme. 
He  always  tried  to  make  his  wife  the  partner  of  his 
triumphs  and  popularity,  as  she  had  been  his  guar 
dian  angel  when  wounded  or  laid  on  beds  of  sickness. 

He  was  an  all-around  great  man,  a  distinguished 
and  valiant  soldier,  an  eminent  statesman,  an  author 
and  great  orator,  and  a  useful  and  public-spirited 
citizen.  I  know  no  man  more  beloved  and  popular 
among  the  people  of  the  State,  and  perhaps  he  was 
more  popular  at  the  North  than  any  other  Southern 
man. 


A  SOUTHERN  GENTLEMAN 

> 

JOHN  SHARP  WILLIAMS 

United  States  Senator  from  Mississippi 

[Extract  from  an  address  commemorative  of  Hon.  Ed 
ward  C.  Walthall,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  February  25,  1899.] 

Every  people,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  every  age  has  had 
its  ideal  of  true  manliness.  The  ideal  is  the  expres 
sion  in  popular  thought  of  that  which  all  in  their 
better  moments  would  like  to  be.  One-tenth  of  man 
kind  may  mold  themselves  in  original  casts — nine- 


46  Oratory  of  the  South 

tenths  mold  themselves  by  conscious  or  unconscious 
imitation  of  that  which  they  love  and  revere  as  per 
sonified  in  others,  either  living  or  dead;  this  is  the 
excusable  sense  in  which  men  are  and  always  will  be 
hero  worshipers.  He  who  is  not  in  some  highest 
sense  a  hero  worshiper  is  either  a  genius,  of  whom 
there  are  few,  or  a  self  worshiper,  of  whom  there  are 
too  many. 

The  ideal  of  a  people  is,  of  course,  reached  by  very 
few;  it  is  reasonably  approximated  by  many;  it  is 
striven  for  by  nearly  all,  who  are  made  better  and 
nobler  by  the  striving;  it  is  rendered  ridiculous  in  its 
over-assertion  or  its  unreasonable  emphasis  by  some 
others;  sometimes  rendered  hateful  by  those  false  at 
heart  to  what  they  outwardly  assume. 

The  ideal  of  the  Italian  is  perfect  art — the  very 
word  which  formerly  meant  manliness  in  Italy  now 
means  art  in  Italian;  the  ideal  of  the  French,  mili 
tary  glory;  of  the  English,  unaffected  honesty  of 
deed  and  speech — its  misunderstood  consummation 
sometimes  mere  bluntness  and  boorishness.  The 
ideal  of  the  Southerner,  before  the  war  absolutely  and 
now  predominantly,  is  that  character  which  we  ex 
press  by  the  word  "gentleman."  The  injunction  of 
the  father  to  the  son  was:  "Be  a  gentleman."  The 
prayer  of  the  mother  was  that  her  boy  might,  "first 
of  all,  be  a  gentleman."  If  she  held  up  in  former 
times  George  Washington,  in  the  latter  times  Robert 
E.  Lee,  as  the  first  of  Americans  and  a  fit  pattern  for 
the  molding  of  all  Americans,  and  therefore  of  her 
own  children,  it  was  primarily  because  each  in  his  day 
was  "the  first  gentleman  of  his  day." 

The  word  must  be  understood,  not  in  the  English 
sense  as  a  man  of  gentle  blood,  but  in  the  Southern 
sense,  as  a  man  of  lionlike  manliness  in  deed,  of 
womanlike  gentleness  in  manner,  of  charitable  con 
sideration  for  all,  and  of  liberality  in  all  things. 


John  Sharp  Williams  47 

The  gentleman  combined  perfect  and  unfailing  cour 
tesy  toward  all  women  and  all  worthy  men  with  per 
fect  and  unfailing  courage,  whether  in  private  quarrel 
or  in  public  strife.  He  might  be  rich  or  he  might  be 
poor — Southerners  neither  cared  nor  asked.  Happier 
for  himself  if  the  former  were  his  condition,  but  "a 
gentleman  still,"  as  the  phrase  went,  whatever  his 
financial  condition,  and  therefore  entitled  to  the  un 
questioning  respect,  confidence,  and  consideration  of 
all  men  and  to  the  love  and  devotion  of  any  good 
woman.  He  might  be  well  born,  or  born  of  obscure 
parents.  That  question,  unlike  the  other,  might  be 
asked,  but  the  answer  made  no  difference  if  only  the 
father  were  honest  and  not  a  coward  and  the  mother 
were  pure. 

The  ideal  gentleman  was  always  honest ;  spoke  the 
truth;  faced  his  enemy;  fought  him  if  necessary, 
never  quarreled  with  him  nor  talked  about  him ;  rode 
well;  shot  well;  used  chaste  and  correct  English; 
insulted  no  man — bore  no  insult  from  any;  was 
studiously  kind  to  his  inferiors,  especially  to  his 
slaves;  cordially  hospitable  to  his  equals;  courteous 
to  his  superiors,  if  he  acknowledged  any;  he  scorned 
a  demagogue,  but  loved  his  people,  and  held  it  mean 
to  prefer  any  class  or  individual  interest,  most  of  all 
his  own,  to  that  of  the  masses  of  his  countrymen.  He 
must  be  ready  at  any  time,  when  needful,  to  lay  his 
life  down,  not  only  for  his  own  honor's  sake,  but, 
more  promptly  yet,  for  his  country's,  his  State's,  or 
his  community's  sake,  and  that,  too,  regardless  of  the 
dictates  of  his  own  private  judgment  as  to  the  wis 
dom  or  unwisdom  of  the  quarrel.  It  was  his  duty  to 
try  to  guide  his  people  in  what  he  considered  the  right 
path;  but  if  he  failed,  it  was  mean  and  selfish  not  to 
follow  them  and,  if  need  be,  die  with  them.  He  was 
sometimes  accused  of  being  an  aristocrat;  but  if  so, 
he  belonged  to  that  aristocracy  which  holds  itself 


48  Oratory  of  the  South 

servant  to  the  maxim  noblesse  oblige.  In  his  private 
relations  he  was  perfect  in  courtesy  to  all;  he  exacted 
perfect  courtesy  from  all,  to  himself  and  to  those  de 
pendent  upon  him. 

This  was  the  ideal. 

It  is  needless  to  say,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  with  an 
ideal  so  high  and  so  exalted  as  this  which  I  have 
described,  but  a  small  percentage  of  men  of  any  race, 
in  any  section  of  country,  or  at  any  time  of  the 
world's  history,  in  any  state  of  human  evolution  thus 
far  reached,  could  succeed  in  fully  attaining  to  it  and 
in  living  it. 

And  yet  General  Edward  C.  Walthall,  the  man  to 
whose  memory  we  pay  tribute  to-day,  attained  to  its 
full  measure  and  lived  it — lived  its  constant,  not  its 
fitful,  impersonation. 

He  was  in  war,  serving  where  rude  shocks  leave 
little  room  for  the  courtesies  of  life;  in  his  family; 
at  the  bar;  on  the  stump;  at  the  board,  where  the 
filled  wine  glass  invites  carelessness  of  speech  and 
action;  among  his  friends;  among  his  political  op 
ponents — I  will  not  say  among  his  enemies,  for  I  do 
not  know  that  he  ever  had  any — not  only  always  a 
self-contained,  courteous,  intelligent,  broad-minded, 
truth-loving,  brave,  loyal,  charitable,  and  patriotic 
gentleman,  but  he  so  lived  that  he  deserved  to  have 
inscribed  on  his  tombstone  the  epitaph,  "Prince  of 
gentlemen." 

At  his  funeral  there  was  no  wailing,  no  noisy  ex 
hibition  of  grief;  of  flowers,  and  love,  and  tear- 
dimmed  eyes  there  was  an  abundance.  In  speaking 
for  myself  I  think  I  speak  for  others  when  I  say  that 
the  eyes  were  not  dimmed  so  much  because  the  stain 
less  gentleman  was  gone.  There  had  been  nothing 
to  regret  in  his  death,  as  there  had  been  nothing  to 
regret  in  his  life.  It  was  because  we  knew  how  far 
short  the  rest  of  us  had  fallen  from  the  life  which  he 


John  Sharp  Williams  49 

lived — the  life  of  the  pure,  gentle,  lion-hearted, 
Southern  gentleman,  provincial  perhaps,  but  noble 
always.  It  was  because  he  was  almost  the  last  of 
a  long  line  of  Mississippians  of  historic  type  and 
fame. 

The  old  historic  ideal  about  which  the  Southern 
life  revolved,  and  which  had  furnished  the  link  of 
connection  between  the  several  stages  of  the  evolu 
tionary  development  of  its  civilization,  is,  they  say, 
losing  its  molding  force.  They  say  something  better 
will  take  its  place.  I  do  not  believe  it.  I  do  not  be 
lieve  anything  better  is,  or  ever  was,  or  can  be.  It 
has  lost  its  force  with  this  generation  in  a  measure, 
though  not  altogether.  The  transition  stage  from 
an  old  to  a  new  industrial  life  has  partially  destroyed 
that,  as  it  has  destroyed  many  other  sweet  flowers, 
which  will,  however,  spring  afresh  to  bloom  anew 
among  the  beauties  of  the  new  order  of  things,  fertil 
ized  by  the  ashes  of  the  old.  But  I  believe  our  people 
will  recur  to  it,  simply  because  it  will  be,  in  the  new 
life,  the  survival  of  the  fittest  out  of  the  old. 

It  has  been  said  that  uan  honest  man  is  the  noblest 
work  of  God."  It  is  a  half  truth.  There  is  some 
thing  nobler  than  the  merely  honest  man,  because 
inclusive  of  it.  It  is  an  honest  man  who  adds  to  his 
honesty,  courtesy,  unassuming  courage,  charity, 
purity,  unselfishness  of  thought  and  conduct,  devotion 
of  self  and  class  to  his  people's  ideal;  in  a  word,  a 
gentleman.  This  is  the  ideal  in  the  homestead  yet, 
though  in  the  mart  it  has  been  overgrown  with  the 
weeds  of  money-getting.  Above  all,  it  is  safely 
ensconced  in  the  hearts  of  good  women,  whence  it 
will  come,  as  things  enshrined  there  must  come,  in 
their  children's  lives  to  enrich  all  society.  Call  it 
what  you  will,  Mr.  Speaker,  God  grant  that  we  as  a 
people  may  never  be  without  it.  In  the  meantime  the 
scythe  of  death  has  been  busy  with  Mississippians — 


50  Oratory  of  the  South 

Davis,  Lamar,  George,  Walthall — all  gone!     What 
wonder  if  we  are  tempted  to  exclaim — 

"Oh,  my  country's  wintry  state ! 
What  second  spring  shall  renovate, 
What  genial  sun  shall  bid  arise, 
The  buried  warlike  and  the  wise?" 


THE  YOUNG  LAWYER 

F.  CHARLES  HUME,  JR. 
Of  the  Houston  (Tex.)  Bar 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  at  the  annual  ban 
quet  of  the  American  Bar  Association  held  in  Minneapolis, 
Minn.,  August  31,  1906;  described  by  the  Minneapolis 
Journal  as  a  "post-prandial  triumph."] 

Mr.    Toastmaster,  Fellow-Practitioners,  and  Young 

Lawyers: 

From  the  lawyers  of  Texas  I  come — unarmed — 
bringing  to  you  the  message  of  civilization.  Without 
hope  of  reward,  and  without  fear  of  recognition,  I 
have  come  to  lend  the  charm  of  high  professional 
character,  and  impart  tone,  to  this  meeting.  It  is  not 
to  me,  however,  that  your  thanks  are  due  for  my 
presence  here.  It  was  my  brethren  of  the  bar  that 
sent  me  on  this  mission,  conscious  of  its  perils.  I  will 
not  shield  them.  It  was  they  that  did  command  and 
hasten  my  departure  hither,  with  the  classic  Spartan 
adjuration, — Go :  come  back  with  your  nerve  or 
on  it! 

Gentlemen,  I  am  a  modest  man,  as  all  men  are 
that  say  they  are.  And  my  chief  characteristic,  aside 
from  physical  pulchritude,  is  candor;  that  is,  I  am 
a  blunt  man,  even  to  the  point  of  dullness.  Yet  I 
clearly  perceive  that  there  is  a  solemn  duty  devolving 
upon  those  of  us  that  have  attained  the  heights,  to 


F.  Charles  Hume,  Jr.  51 

cast  benign  glances  upon  the  young  lawyers  strug 
gling  in  the  valley  below.  For  at  last  the  young- 
lawyer  is  the  hope  of  the  profession,  just  as  he  is  the 
despair  of  the  trial  judge. 

The  young  lawyer  exults  in  logic  and  analysis — he 
defies  both.  Let  us  contemplate  him.  He  may  be 
described  as  the  genus  homo  importans — "deep  on 
whose  front  engraven,  deliberation  sits  and  public 
care."  He  is  res  tola — in  the  modern  tongue,  uthe 
whole  works."  He  is  great  in  persona,  rather  than 
in  rem  or  in  rebus.  According  to  experienced  trial 
judges,  the  "young  lawyer"  is  a  contradiction  in 
terms;  yet  a  necessary  evil,  whose  chief  function  is 
to  grow  older.  Like  the  Law,  he  is  a  process,  not  a 
completed  product — university  diplomas  notwith 
standing.  In  judicial  opinion  he  is  obiter  dictum. 
Among  lawyers,  he  is  sui  generis — a  sort  of  differ 
ence  without  a  distinction.  The  jurists  appear  to  con 
cede  that  he  exists  by  presumption  of  law;  and  the 
weight  of  authority  seems  to  be  that  he  thrives  by 
presumption  in  fact.  He  can  scarcely  be  said  to  come 
within  the  purview  of  the  laity:  his  name  loometh 
large  on  his  own  sign;  to  the  public  it  shineth  as 
from  afar — and  very  faintly.  He  is  not  expressly 
classified  among  the  public  utilities,  but  he  no  doubt 
has  his  place — the  difficulty  is  to  find  it.  His  sphere 
is  coextensive  with  that  ascribed  by  Lord  Brougham 
to  the  Law  of  England:  to  get  twelve  men  in  a 
"box" — and  jam  down  the  lid. 

The  lawyer  should  know  everything — the  young 
lawyer  does.  Solomon  could  not  have  matched  him. 
And  "the  memory  of  man  runneth  not  to  the  con 
trary" — of  his.  If  the  old  lawyer  knows  most,  the 
young  lawyer  knows  best.  It  is  no  trouble  for  him  to 
tell  what  the  law  is — it  is  rather  a  surprise.  But  the 
evil  day  cometh  apace,  when  with  "assurance  doubly 
sure"  and  stride  triumphant,  he  marches  into  court 


52  Oratory  of  the  South 

with  his  first  case;  and,  enveloped  in  the  darkness  of 
his  own  pleadings,  he  falls  into  the  clutches  of  the 
grisly  old  guerrilla,  General  Demurrer.  Let  us  not 
paint  the  pathetic  picture,  nor  voice  the  lamentation. 

The  young  lawyer  is  gregarious — he  cometh  in 
flocks.  But  tremble  not,  my  friends,  at  the  annual 
increase  of  competitors;  for  though  many  young 
lawyers  are  called,  few  deliver  the  "merchandise." 
To  the  established  practitioner  the  situation  is  not 
hopeless,  but  has  its  compensations.  Let  us  be  just; 
for  we  know  that  the  young  lawyer  is  a  valuable 
litigious  asset.  And  furthermore,  whether  we  agree 
that  the  law  is  an  exact  science,  we  know  that  it  hath 
a  sort  of  certainty  that  often  amounts  to  fatality; 
and  that,  while  its  policy  is  to  put  an  end  to  litigation, 
its  practice  puts  an  end  to  many  young  lawyers — thus 
establishing  in  the  profession  a  subtle  relation  of  equi 
librium  between  genesis  and  exodus.  Also  let  us  be 
generous.  And  when  the  young  lawyer  feels  that  his 
place  is  precarious,  and  that  his  talents  are  not  ap 
preciated,  and  that  everything  is  against  him,  let  us 
exhort  him  to  brace  up,  take  courage  and  be  firm; 
for  conditions  will  change,  and  probably  get — worse. 
And  my  dear  young  friends,  let  me  admonish  you,  in 
the  melancholy  hour  and  whatever  may  betide, — to 
think  always  of  the  nobility  and  dignity  of  your  pro 
fession.  Keep  well  in  your  own  mind  the  fact  that 
you  are  a  lawyer;  and  some  day  perhaps  the  com 
munity  will  discover  your  secret. 

Esteem  the  Law,  thy  mistress :  guardian  angel  of 
blind  justice,  and,  by  men's  unthought  appointment 
through  the  ages,  her  majestic  voice  and  dread  inter 
preter.  She  sits  aloft  upon  the  rock-ribbed  Mount 
of  Right,  a  peaceful  virgin,  frowning  chaos  and  dis 
order  down  throughout  the  world.  To  stay  the  hand 
of  reckless  might  and  turbulence,  she  reacheth  forth; 
and  higher  yet  to  lift  the  blood-won  standard  of  long- 


F.  Charles  Hume,  Jr.  53 

wak'ning  man's  humanity  to  man.  From  us  she's 
hid,  betimes,  in  mist;  and  from  her  dim  retreat  'tis 
sport  to  watch  us  climb,  and  stumble,  fall,  and  then 
again  essay  the  height.  There  leads  no  path  of  dal 
liance  to  her  bower;  to  her  favor,  winds  the  stubborn 
royal  road  of  honor,  courage,  and  devotion.  With 
the  largess  of  content  that  on  the  faithful  she  bestows, 
nor  gold,  nor  regal  purple,  nor  the  "wealth  of  Ind," 
nor  argosy  with  precious  stones  deep  laden, — e'en 
can  vie;  all  these  are  but  the  greedy  gew-gaws  of  a 
life  misused,  against  the  tranquil  balm  that  awaits  the 
seal  of  her  approval. 

Develop  generous  impulses.  It  is  to  my  keen  sense 
of  gratitude  that  I  chiefly  owe  my  present  business 
relations.  When  the  world  was  apprised  through  the 
associated  press  that  I  had  procured  license  to  prac 
tice  law,  the  clamorous  demand  usually  made  for  the 
services  of  the  young  lawyer  by  interests  in  the  large 
cities  was  directed  toward  me.  But  my  father,  who 
had  sent  me  to  school,  I  felt  had  some  claims  upon 
me.  So  I  took  no  account  of  any  of  the  inducements 
offered  me.  I  went  to  my  father  and  said :  uYou  have 
educated  me — at  least  you  think  you  have.  I  am 
grateful.  You  have  an  established  practice.  You 
need  me."  He  replied,  "You  are  very  thoughtful 
and  considerate."  And  I  proved  it  by  taking  him — 
into  partnership.  And  I  advise  every  young  lawyer 
similarly  situated  to  follow  my  example,  especially 
if  he  has  any  reverence  for  the  three  graces, — food, 
shelter,  and  raiment.  Censure  me  not  for  paternal 
ism.  Each  to  his  own;  but,  verily,  my  young  friends, 
to  depend  on  our  fathers  is  silver;  to  depend  on  our 
selves  is  "brass."  And  lest  you  have  cause  to  lament 
your  client,  I  charge  you  fling  away  self-reliance,  "for 
by  that  sin  fell  the  angels." 

You  will  no  doubt  make  mistakes.  The  man  that 
never  makes  mistakes  never  makes  anything.  And 


54  Oratory  of  the  South 

to  the  man  of  indomitable  will  nothing  succeeds  like 
failure.  "Upon  our  dead  selves  as  stepping  stones 
we  rise  to  higher  things."  I  have  traveled  the  road 
myself.  I  want  to  see  you  successful.  You  have  my 
best  wishes  ever.  In  your  adversity  my  heart  goes 
out  to  you ;  in  your  prosperity — my  hand. 

In  conclusion — be  your  success,  as  men  call  it,  what 
it  may,  bear  in  mind  that  change  is  the  law  of  life. 
The  watchword  of  progress  is  umove  on" ;  and  fixa 
tion  is  retrogression.  And  in  this  regard,  doth  justice 
ever  grant  fair  and  ample  dispensation  to  her  ser 
vitors  of  the  law.  Mindful  of  your  solace,  she  hath 
wisely  provided.  And  when  the  city's  "thick-com 
ing"  complications,  and  garish  flare  and  turmoil, 
shall  have  palled  upon  you,  and  you  have  overtaxed 
your  "credulity  in  listening  to  the  whispers  of  fancy"; 
and  have  pursued  with  vain  "eagerness  the  phantoms 
of  hope,"  you  may  still  answer  the  plaintive  call  of 
the  bucolic  siren  for  her  own — and  take  to  the  tall 
timber!  And,  my  dear  young  friends,  as  a  prophet 
without  honor  in  his  own,  or  any  other  country,  let 
me  predict  that  I  shall  precede  you  there ;  and  be  the 
first  to  bid  you  welcome,  in  copious  draughts  of  ob 
scurity,  back  to  nature  and  the  simple  life. 


THE  MAJESTY  OF  LAW 

CHARLTON  H.  ALEXANDER 
Of  the  Jackson   (Miss.)  Bar 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Univer 
sity  of  Mississippi,  June  5,  1900.] 

From  a  finite  view-point  the  secret  of  the  mighty 
power  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  lies  in  the  enthronement  of 
law — law  which  founds  on  the  moral  sense  of  the 
citizen,  and  protects  that  citizen,  whoever  he  may  be; 


Charlton  H.  Alexander  55 

law  which  guards  the  home  as  the  unit  of  society  and 
exalts  the  citizen  as  the  unit  of  national  life;  law 
which  follows  that  unit  with  its  protection  even  to  the 
remotest  confines  of  the  earth. 

Sirs,  it  means  something  to  be  an  American  citizen ! 
If  it  does  not  mean  that  the  humblest  citizen  shall 
have  the  protection  of  the  best  laws  of  the  best  gov 
ernment  on  earth,  then  we  should  cease  our  boast 
ing.  Faded  is  the  glory  and  dimmed  the  majesty  of 
law,  when  it  no  longer  protects  a  citizen  in  his  legal 
rights  and  his  legal  remedies,  whoever  and  wherever 
he  may  be — whether  he  be  a  millionaire  whose 
property  is  threatened  by  a  riot  of  organized  labor, 
or  the  poorest  tenant  in  the  purlieus  of  poverty,  from 
whom  organized  greed  would  snatch  the  ice  that 
cools  his  fevered  brow;  whether  he  be  the  faithful 
missionary  whose  possessions  are  plundered  by  the 
cruel  Turk,  or  the  obscure  sailor  unlawfully  seized  in 
the  streets  of  Valparaiso;  whether  it  be  a  negro 
laborer  shot  down  by  riotous  whites  in  a  Northern 
State  for  the  crime  of  trying  to  work,  or  an  idle  and 
vicious  negro  who,  for  a  real  crime,  is  lynched  by  a 
Southern  mob. 

There  is  a  pestilential  evil  which  is  settling  like  a 
blight  on  our  land.  It  is  a  spirit  of  lawlessness — 
either  open  defiance  of  law  or  a  lack  of  reverence  for 
its  majesty.  It  may  be  the  lawless  strike,  which  be 
gins,  perhaps,  in  just  resentment  of  corporate  oppres 
sion,  but  ends  in  wanton  destruction  of  life  or  prop 
erty.  It  may  be  political  degradation  which  makes 
commerce  of  ballots,  and  drives  voters  like  cattle  into 
political  shambles.  It  may  be  a  defiant  plutocracy, 
which  seduces  with  cunning  or  with  gold  the  law- 
making  or  law-enforcing  power.  It  may  be  the 
frantic  surging  of  the  proletariat  in  our  great  cities 
against  the  barriers  of  government  and  society,  or  a 
discordant  communism  which  seeks  license  in  the 


56  Oratory  of  the  South 

name  of  liberty.  Whatever  may  be  the  evil  else 
where,  the  predominant  danger  to  the  South  lies  in  a 
lack  of  reverence  for  law — a  too  quick  appeal  to  per 
sonal  violence  in  every  form. 

Passing  by  causes,  what  of  the  cure?  First  of  all, 
exalt  the  ballot.  Every  vote  should  be  the  free 
choice,  and  express  the  moral  sentiment,  of  an  intelli 
gent  citizen.  Your  ballot,  young  gentlemen,  makes 
you  partners  in  your  government.  It  lifts  you  to 
the  plane  of  real  royalty.  It  makes  the  laws  your 
laws.  Your  ballot  is  not  only  a  privilege,  'it  is  a 
pledge.  In  party  elections  the  voter  is  deemed 
to  have  pledged  his  support  to  the  men  or  the 
measures  chosen.  You  owe  your  country  greater  al 
legiance  than  you  owe  your  party.  And  you  should 
hold  your  every  vote  as  a  solemn  pledge  to  obey  and 
uphold  the  law  of  the  land.  Guard,  then,  the  ballot 
box.  Guard  it  as  the  symbol  of  your  sovereignty. 
Guard  it  even  "as  the  Parsee  watches  the  sacred 
flame."  Guard  it,  even  as  the  lion  of  Thorswalden 
guards  the  lilies  of  France. 

But  we  must  do  more.  We  must  remove  all  ac 
cursed  things  from  the  camp.  We  must  banish  the 
pistol.  It  has  fostered  among  us  a  spurious  chiv 
alry — a  hip-pocket  chivalry,  if  you  please.  The 
habit  of  carrying  weapons  has  a  barbarous  origin. 
Our  Teuton  forefather,  who  went  from  battle  to  the 
councils  of  his  people,  carried  his  weapons  with  him. 
He  voted  by  brandishing  his  spear,  and  applauded 
with  the  clangor  of  his  arms.  Right  here  some  may 
find  the  germ  of  a  modern  legislature.  But  certain  it 
is  that  neither  that  remote  ancestor,  nor  those  less  re 
mote,  who  wore  their  swords  full  displayed  as  a 
badge  of  their  gentility,  nor  those  who  wrote  into  our 
Constitution  that  the  people  should  have  the  right  to 
carry  arms  in  self-defense,  ever  dreamed  of  private 
broils  and  hair-trigger  pistols.  What  is  a  pistol? 


Charlton  H.  Alexander  57 

For  what  is  it  made?  Useless  to  the  law-abiding  for 
defense,  unsuited  for  war,  unfitted  for  game,  its  real, 
its  only  target  is  a  human  heart.  The  man  who  car 
ries  a  pistol  concealed  is  a  willing  violator  of  the  law. 
He  deliberately  insults  its  majesty.  The  dynamite 
bomb  is  not  more  distinctively  the  symbol  of  anarchy 
than  the  pistol  is  the  symbol  of  lawless  violence  in 
the  South.  Yet  even  in  the  toys  of  childhood  our 
people  are  made  familiar  with  this  exponent  of  their 
country's  great  shame.  Yes,  banish  the  pistol.  Our 
State,  our  Southland,  will  not  have  made  a  fair  begin 
ning  in  the  suppression  of  lawlessness  until  a  purified 
public  sentiment  thrusts  aside  as  an  outlaw  the  man 
who  feels  that  his  toilet  is  not  complete  until  he  has 
buckled  around  him  a  weapon  designed  alone  for 
taking  human  life. 

Again,  the  dignity  of  law  cannot  be  preserved,  or 
its  supremacy  maintained,  unless  every  statute  be 
enforced.  He  who  wilfully  violates  a  law,  or  con 
nives  at  its  being  broken,  not  only  weakens  his  own 
self-respect  as  a  citizen,  but  directly  affronts  the 
majesty  of  the  law.  No  man  should  dare  to  be 
wiser  than  the  law.  The  will  of  no  man  should 
prevail  against  the  combined  will  of  all.  Neither 
partisan  zeal,  nor  doubt  as  to  the  policy  of  a  law, 
should  tempt  to  its  disobedience.  If  the  rights  of  a 
citizen,  however  humble,  are  to  be  protected  at  any 
cost,  the  sovereign  power  should  not  stop  at  any  cost 
in  punishing  any  infraction  of  law.  When  the  wis 
dom  of  our  lawmakers  shall  have  devised  a  speedy, 
sure,  and  adequate  remedy  for  punishing  those  crimes 
which  excite  to  violence,  a  long  step  will  have  been 
taken  in  this  needed  reform. 

I  pass  now  to  the  final  and  most  effectual  remedy. 
It  is  in  the  proper  education  of  our  people.  The 
young  must  be  educated,  not  only  to  be  scholars,  but 
citizens.  This  University,  founded  and  maintained 


58  Oratory  of  the  South 

by  the  State,  should  be  foremost  in  every  movement 
looking  to  the  elevation  of  citizenship.  Surely  those 
whom  the  State  has  trained  should  lead  in  the  service 
of  the  State.  Even  in  youth  the  citizen  should  be 
taught  to  reverence  the  law  and  the  courts.  We  can 
not  dissociate  law  from  the  courts  which  administer 
it.  It  will  be  the  first  step  of  our  country's  down 
fall  when  party  zeal  or  official  corruption  finds  per 
manent  place  in  our  courts  of  last  resort.  Every 
Mississippian  should  be  proud  of  the  record  of  her 
judiciary.  There  was  a  time  when  shame  and  dis 
honor  reared  their  crests  unabashed  in  the  chair  of 
the  executive;  when  a  Barca  brood  of  political  rob 
bers  invaded  our  legislative  halls  and  preyed  with 
diabolical  greed  and  cunning  upon  the  ignorance  of 
the  blacks  and  the  helplessness  of  the  prostrate 
whites;  when,  opposed  to  these,  were  less  than  a 
score  of  sturdy  patriots,  who,  undaunted  by  difficul 
ties,  and  undismayed  by  dangers,  by  their  courage 
and  sagacity  saved  the  ship  of  state  from  total  wreck ; 
and  when,  at  last,  that  ship,  sailing  between  the 
Scylla  of  ignorance  and  the  Charybdis  of  corruption, 
rode  triumphant  through  the  surging  waves  there 
loomed  up  against  the  blackness  of  the  storm  a  noble 
pilot,  standing,  like  Palinurus,  at  the  wheel.  It  was 
the  towering  form  of  John  M.  Stone.  The  mention 
of  his  name  is  a  eulogy  on  Mississippi. 

Yet  further.  There  is  one  tribunal  that  challenges 
the  admiration,  as  it  should  the  reverence,  of  every 
American  citizen.  The  framers  of  our  government, 
when  they  made  the  Constitution,  committed  it  into 
the  keeping  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  Well  has  it  guarded  the  trust.  The  Presi 
dent  may  be  a  partisan.  The  Congress  is  always 
partisan.  But  that  tribunal  has  ever  sat  in  serene 
majesty  above  the  fierce  surging  of  party  strife,  above 
the  pollution  of  official  corruption.  It  has  guarded 


Charlton  H.  Alexander  59 

our  sacred  bill  of  rights — rights  of  the  people,  and 
rights  of  the  States — against  the  stealthy  encroach 
ments  of  selfish  cunning  and  the  open  assaults  of  tur 
bulent  faction.  If  there  be  any  man  in  all  the  Union 
who  should  cherish  reverence  and  gratitude  for  that 
tribunal  it  is  the  Southern  man — the  Southern  States' 
rights  Democrat,  if  you  please.  It  stood  between  us 
and  ruin  in  the  time  of  our  supreme  peril.  Not  once, 
nor  twice,  but  many  times  it  averted  the  blow  which 
sectional  hatred  or  misguided  bigotry  aimed  at  our 
people.  It  was  that  court  which,  when  Congress 
sought  to  establish  Federal  control  over  State  elec 
tions,  confined  that  control  exclusively  in  the  States. 
It  was  that  court  which  nullified  the  proclamation  of 
Lincoln,  ordering  trial  by  court  martial  instead  of  a 
jury,  of  aiders  and  abettors  of  the  Southern  cause 
outside  the  circle  of  actual  hostilities.  It  was  that 
court  whose  judgment  wrested  from  the  nation  itself 
and  restored  to  the  family  of  Robert  E.  Lee  its  an 
cestral  home.  It  was  that  court  which  held  void 
that  iniquitous  oath  by  which  the  best  and  most 
patriotic  citizens  of  the  South  were  barred  from  place 
and  power  unless  they  would  abjure  the  past  and 
deny  even  all  thought  of  disloyalty.  It  was  that 
court  which  permitted  the  able  Confederate  lawyer 
and  statesman,  A.  H.  Garland,  to  practice  before  its 
bar,  despite  his  refusal  to  take  that  hated  oath.  And 
when  Congress  found  a  culmination  for  all  the  shame 
and  humiliation  it  would  heap  upon  the  whites  of 
the  South,  and  sought  to  force  upon  them  social 
equality  with  the  blacks,  it  was  that  court  which 
struck  the  civil  rights  bill  lifeless  at  its  feet,  and  thus 
preserved  to  the  States  the  right  to  enact  into  posi 
tive  statute  a  law  written  on  the  heart  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  wherever  he  walks  the  earth.  It  was  that 
court  which  afterwards  affirmed  the  right  of  Missis 
sippi  to  separate  the  races  on  the  highways  of  travel, 


60  Oratory  of  the  South 

and  also  her  right,  by  a  limitation  of  suffrage,  to 
exclude  ignorance  from  the  polls,  and  thus  to  per 
petuate  the  rule  of  intelligence,  which  means  white 
supremacy.  These  examples  might  yet  be  multiplied. 
In  every  instance  the  court  was  overwhelmingly  Re 
publican.  Away,  then,  with  the  thought  that  our 
highest  tribunal  has  ever  yet  prostrated  itself  at  the 
feet  of  party.  It  has  justified  the  wisdom  of  our 
fathers,  and  is  yet  worthy  of  our  reverence. 

Finally,  remember  that  it  is  only  as  the  citizen  is 
exalted  that  the  majesty  of  the  law  is  preserved. 
The  divine  Law-Giver  said  to  His  followers,  "The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you,"  and  a  wise  man 
added,  speaking  to  Englishmen,  uThe  kingdom  of 
England  is  within  you."  Much  more  is  it  true  that 
the  Republic  is  within  the  citizen.  I  see  in  every 
man  before  me  a  sovereign  and  a  subject — a  sover 
eign,  in  that  it  is  his  high  prerogative  to  make  laws; 
a  subject,  in  that  it  is  his  crowning  virtue  to  obey 
them.  There  is  a  craving  in  the  human  heart  for 
objects  that  will  endure.  Even  as  we  build  we  seek 
material  which  under  the  corroding  touch  of  time  will 
not  decay.  To  the  patriotic  heart  the  question  often 
recurs,  Are  our  liberties  safe?  Is  our  Republic  to 
endure?  I  know  not.  But  this  I  know,  that  no 
government  can  endure  forever  that  does  not  rest  on 
the  granite  foundations  of  immutable  law.  Let  us 
of  the  South  resolve  that  the  reign  of  prosperity 
which  is  to  be  our  portion  shall  be  a  reign  of  law. 
And  let  us  hope  that  through  yet  uncounted  years, 
even  from  the  remotest  nations  of  the  earth  whom 
our  laws  shall  bless,  those  shall  come  who  will  look 
upon  the  beautiful  and  enduring  temple  of  liberty 
which  our  fathers  have  reared,  and  will  say,  as  did 
that  one  who  looked  upon  the  majestic  dome  and 
foundations  of  St.  Paul, 

"They  dreamt  not  of  a  perishable  home,  who  thus  could 
build." 


Selden  P.  Spencer  61 

LAWYERS  AND  LAWLESSNESS 

SELDEN  P.  SPENCER 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  joint  meeting 
of  the  Bar  Association,  of  Arkansas  and  Texas,  at  Texar- 
kana,  Arkansas — Texas,  July  II,  1906.] 

There  is  a  lawlessness  of  evasion  as  well  as  of  vio 
lation,  a  lawlessness  that  seeks  and  too  often  secures 
the  sanction  of  the  lawyer — that  is  the  burden  of  my 
theme. 

In  this  day  the  disregard  of  law  most  dangerous 
in  these  United  States  is  not  the  crime  of  the  brutal 
criminal  who  robs  or  murders  or  burns;  for  watch 
ing  him  with  constant  vigilance  are  the  officers  of 
the  law  empowered  to  arrest  at  once  on  the  commis 
sion  of  the  crime,  and,  moreover,  the  evidences  of  his 
criminal  act  are  so  open  and  the  evil  effect  upon  the 
community  so  immediate  that  from  the  moment  of 
the  wrongful  act,  if  indeed  not  before,  the  criminal 
himself  becomes  an  outcast,  hiding  and  hunted. 
Concerning  this  class  of  crimes  in  general,  confined  as 
they  are  to  the  ignorant  and  the  degenerate — to  those 
who  are  without  either  moral,  social,  or  financial 
responsibility — I  have  at  this  time  nothing  to  say. 

The  lawlessness — none  the  less  dangerous — to 
which  I  direct  your  attention  is  that  disregard  of  law 
on  the  part,  perhaps,  of  those  who  are  of  gentle 
birth ;  who  have  had  the  advantage  of  a  liberal  edu 
cation;  whose  fortunes  have  been  accumulated  and 
are  preserved  by  virtue  of  the  power  of  the  very  law 
which  they  despise;  of  those  who  with  righteous  in 
dignation  would  proceed,  as  to  a  public  duty,  against 
the  common  thief  or  thug  who  may  have  deprived 
them  of  their  money  or  trespassed  upon  their  persons 
or  property. 

There  is  a  treachery  in  the  time  of  war,  and  the 


62  Oratory  of  the  South 

guilty  traitor  is  promptly  hanged.  There  is  as  well 
a  traitor  in  the  time  of  peace :  he  it  is  who  by  his 
speech  or  counsel  or  conduct  debauches  the  law  of 
the  land.  Such  lawlessness  has  not  the  excuse  of 
ignorance;  it  is  conceived  in  selfishness  and  greed, 
and  is  too  often  brought  forth  with  legal  midwifery, 
and  is  possible  only  because  of  and  where  exists  a 
low  regard  for  the  dignity  and  power  of  the  law  on 
the  part  of  those  who  are  either  the  immediate  trans 
gressors,  or  on  the  part  of  those  who,  mainly  of  our 
profession,  by  counsel  and  assistance,  abet  the  crime. 
The  lawlessness  of  evasion  exalts  gold  above  charac 
ter,  and  is  more  concerned  about  the  amount  of  gain 
than  with  the  manner  of  its  getting.  It  regards  law 
not  with  respect,  but  rather  as  the  burglar  views  the 
lock  that  separates  him  from  his  loot,  or  locates 
the  watchman  that  awaits  his  egress — as  something 
to  be  avoided  or  overcome. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  lawlessness  of  greed 
believes  in  the  strict  enforcement  of  the  law  against 
the  unfortunate  or  the  victim  of  evil  association,  and 
protests  violently  against  leniency  in  such  cases  in 
either  prosecution  or  pardon;  but  when  the  law 
comes  in  conflict  with  the  lust  of  gold  or  is  invoked 
for  the  protection  of  the  people,  either  to  prevent 
restraint  of  trade  or  to  restrict  monopoly  in  regard 
to  articles  generally  used,  or  to  prohibit  discrimina 
tion  in  favor  of  the  rich  and  powerful  and  against 
the  weak,  or  to  enforce  the  assessment  and  payment 
of  taxes,  in  an  instant  the  law  thus  evoked  has  lost 
its  majesty  and  is  alleged  to  have  become  at  once  an 
instrument  of  oppression  to  be  resisted  or  evaded  by 
every  means  which  money,  friendship,  brains,  or  tech 
nicality  can  suggest. 

In  this  land  of  ours,  where  every  citizen — as  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  put  it — is  a 
constituent  part  of  the  sovereignty  itself,  the  man 


Selden  P.  Spencer  63 

who  earns  his  living  with  his  hands  has  the  right  to 
expect  and  to  demand  that  every  corporation  engaged 
in  quasi-public  business  shall,  for  example,  transport 
people  or  freight,  or  accept  employment  from  all  who 
desire  it,  at  the  same  price  and  on  the  same  terms  for 
one  as  for  the  other;  and  that  merely  because  a  ship 
per  or  trader  may  be  rich  or  powerful  is  no  reason 
why  he  should  be  allowed  reduced  rates  which  are 
not  as  well  open  and  known  to  every  one  who  has 
need  of  this  public  service;  and  the  right  to  thus 
expect  and  demand  is  in  principle  as  firmly  and 
righteously  established  as  is  the  right  of  him  who  has 
acquired  a  fortune  to  expect  and  demand  that  it  be 
preserved  from  theft  or  trespass. 

Laws  preventing  discrimination  in  freight  and 
passenger  rates  that  apply  to  railroads ;  laws  concern 
ing  mercantile  and  manufacturing  companies  that 
restrict  dangerous  combinations  or  prohibit  unfair 
monopolies,  or  regulate  the  payment  of  capital  stock 
or  the  operation  of  the  business  of  the  company ;  laws 
that  provide  when  and  how  arrests  may  be  made  or 
property  seized;  laws  that  prohibit  false  testimony 
or  collusion  either  to  secure  licenses  or  to  obtain  de 
crees  or  to  evade  taxation,  and  that  thus  give  force  to 
the  oath  which  binds  the  taker  not  only  to  tell  the 
truth,  but  to  tell  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but 
the  truth, — are  all  laws  clad  with  the  same  majesty, 
deserving  of  the  same  respect,  entitled  to  the  same 
enforcement  as  are  the  laws  upon  the  statute  books 
concerning  murder  or  rape  or  arson.  The  difference 
is  one  of  degree,  not  of  principle ;  both  merely  because 
they  are  laws,  if  for  no  other  reason,  have  a  right 
to  respect  and  enforcement. 

My  brothers  of  the  bar,  ours  is  an  exalted  pro 
fession;  next  to  that  vocation  which  has  to  do  with 
the  eternal  welfare  of  mankind  and  which  brings 
"good  tidings  of  great  joy  which  shall  be  to  all  the 


64  Oratory  of  the  South 

people,"  is  to  be  ranked  the  calling  to  which  we  have 
devoted  our  lives,  and  that  has  to  do  with  the  life 
and  liberty  as  well  as  with  the  property  of  mankind. 

Those  great  words  of  Thomas  Hooker  are  true 
to-day:  "Of  Law  there  can  be  no  less  acknowledged 
than  that  her  seat  is  the  bosom  of  God,  her  voice  is 
the  harmony  of  the  world.  All  things  in  heaven 
and  earth  do  her  homage, — the  very  least  as  feeling 
her  care,  and  the  greatest  as  not  exempted  from  her 
power." 

The  lawyer  of  to-day,  the  true  lawyer,  true  to  the 
history  of  his  profession,  to  its  high  purpose  and  its 
noble  aim,  is  the  man,  found  no  more  often  in  the 
towns  and  country  than  in  the  city,  who  counsels  and 
pleads  for  what  is  right,  not  for  what  is  only  ex 
pedient  or  desired;  who  can  always  be  found  ready 
to  assist  in  the  preventing  or  remedying  of  wrong, 
never  in  the  accomplishing  of  it;  who  regards  his 
duty  to  God,  to  his  country,  to  his  profession,  as 
above  purchase;  who  acts  for  his  clients'  rights,  not 
as  their  hired  slave;  in  whom  character,  above  even 
learning  or  genius  or  eloquence,  is  the  great  balancing 
power  of  his  life. 

The  profession  that  has  come  down  to  us  is  laden 
with  its  trophies  of  rights  maintained,  wrongs  over 
thrown,  liberties  secured  and  preserved,  innocence 
established,  guilt  punished,  and  it  can  in  our  day  have 
no  greater  glory  than  to  uphold  and  maintain  the  law 
of  the  land;  and  refusing  to  counsel  or  assist  in  its 
evasion  or  violation,  thus  establish  by  practice  and 
counsel  as  well  as  by  precept  among  the  people  that 
general  respect  for  the  law,  which  in  a  government 
like  ours,  of  the  people,  and  by  the  people,  as  well 
as  for  the  people,  is  absolutely  essential. 


James  Stephen  Hogg  65 

PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 

JAMES  STEPHEN  HOGG 

Ex-Governor  of  Texas 

[A  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  in  honor  of  President 
Roosevelt  at  Dallas,  Tex.,  April  5,  1905.] 

My  fellow-citizens,  I  came  here,  several  hundred 
miles,  after  a  protracted,  serious  sickness,  in  order 
to  testify  my  appreciation  of  the  man  who,  in  one 
night's  time,  according  to  accredited  reports,  liber 
ated  Texas  from  commercial  tyranny;  a  man  who, 
in  a  night's  time,  made  it  possible  for  our  commerce, 
so  great,  so  wonderful,  and  of  such  boundless  pos 
sibilities,  to  reach  a  market  of  three  hundred  million 
people  without  traveling  nine  thousand  miles  out  of 
the  way;  a  man  who,  in  a  night's  time,  brought, 
without  resort  to  diplomacy,  without  the  complica 
tions  of  red-tapeism,  what  the  American  people  for 
over  one  hundred  years  have  been  trying  to  get — the 
great  Panama  canal.  Yes,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  me  as 
a  Texan  rising  above  partisan  prejudice,  to  come  here 
to  meet  the  great  President  who  had  the  manhood  to 
strike  back  the  dough-faced  pirates  who  have  fettered 
commerce  for  over  one  hundred  years.  That's 
Americanism,  not  politics.  That's  a  principle  which 
every  American,  proud  of  his  country,  must  yield 
with  pride.  Mr.  President,  we  appreciate  you,  sir, 
and  that's  the  real  cause  of  this  demonstration  to-day. 

I  came  to  pay  my  respects  to  him  for  other  reasons. 
He  is  the  first  President  to  obey  the  will  and  senti- 
:ment  of  the  American  people, — absolutely,  fearlessly, 
regardless  of  his  own  environments.  An  instance  in 
point  is  his  taking  the  first  step  to  strike  down  the 
Northern  Securities  Company.  He  was  the  first  one 
to  lead  out  to  suppress  the  trusts  of  this  country  that 
are  now  throttling  commerce  and  destroying  indi- 


66  Oratory  of  the  South 

vidualism.  He  was  the  first  one  to  scourge  back 
from  high  places  the  partisans  of  his  lifetime  (around 
him  as  his  friends),  the  corruptionists  in  high  places. 
If  the  spirit  of  Andrew  Jackson  has  descended  to  find 
place  again  in  the  bosom  of  any  man  in  the  last  seventy 
years,  it  is  in  Theodore  Roosevelt.  And  I  am  proud 
that  there  is  a  spirit  of  harmony  to-day  among  the 
people  of  this  State  in  extending  a  warm,  a  hearty 
welcome  to  the  man  of  destiny,  the  man  of  San  Juan 
Hill,  the  man  who  put  a  stop  to  the  Northern  Securi 
ties  Company  corruption,  the  friend  of  the  people 
against  combinations  everywhere.  And  when  Texans 
stand  up  to  welcome  the  great  Democratic  President, 
we  are  proud  to  have  the  Republicans  to  help  us. 

And  I  must  say  that,  if  you  will  read  American 
history,  if  you  will  read  the  biographies  of  the  men 
who  have  occupied  the  White  House,  you  will  find 
that  this  is  the  first  man  who  has  studied  his  own 
country.  He  has  been  upon  the  plains,  under  the 
blanket,  to  study  the  dry  regions  of  the  great  West, 
to  see  the  necessity  for  irrigation.  Did  you  ever 
know  a  man  who  was  raised  upon  the  plains,  or  who 
had  spent  his  young  manhood  there  in  the  saddle,  that 
was  not  opposed  to  monopoly  in  every  form?  He  is 
for  the  greatest  individual  freedom  consistent  with 
human  rights  in  obedience  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
country.  And  when  the  senators  from  the  South 
land  opposed  him,  they  committed  the  political  blun 
der  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Men  in  high  places, 
catering  to  what  they  believed  to  be  a  common  prej 
udice  among  the  people,  sought  to  embitter  the  coun 
try  against  him. 

Mr.  President,  we  want  to  say  to  you,  sir,  that 
this  demonstration,  and  those  yet  to  follow,  will  pro 
claim  to  the  world  that  Texas  has  not  tried  to  snub 
you !  The  spirit  of  liberality  in  the  bosoms  of  these 
men  here,  who  are  the  representatives  of  every  class 


Alexander  W.  Terrell  67 

of  people  in  our  State,  is  as  broad  as  the  ocean's  sweep 
or  the  tidal  wave's  measureless  motion,  always  imbued 
with  justice,  ever  ready  to  do  honor  to  a  servant  of 
the  people  who  will  obey  their  will. 


TRIBUTE  TO  JAMES  S.  HOGG 

ALEXANDER  W.  TERRELL 

Of   the  Austin    (Tex.)    Bar;     United   States  Minister   to 
Turkey  during  the  administration  of  President  Cleveland 

[Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Texas-  Legislature, 
March  29,  1906.] 

Mr.  Speaker  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House: 

Others  who  have  addressed  you  have  paid  a  just 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Governor  James  S.  Hogg 
as  a  statesman.  I  choose  rather  to  speak  of  him  as 
a  man,  for  his  achievements  are  a  part  of  our  public 
history. 

Through  long  years  of  intimate  friendship  and 
association  I  learned  to  know  him  well  as  an  incor 
ruptible  patriot  and  as  a  pure-souled  gentleman.  He 
was  a  child  of  Texas  to  the  manner  born.  I  knew 
his  father,  General  Hogg,  who  was  a  pioneer  of  the 
Republic  of  Texas,  and  who  helped  to  frame  her 
first  State  Constitution.  He  died  at  Shiloh  as  a 
Brigadier  General  of  the  Confederacy,  and,  like  most 
true  men  who  devote  their  lives  to  the  service  of  the 
state,  he  died  poor.  In  less  than  twelve  months  the 
wife  of  this  stanch  patriot  followed  her  husband  into 
the  great  unknown.  And  so  James  S.  Hogg,  born  of 
patrician  parents,  was  left  an  orphan  boy. 

Pause  one  moment  and  think  of  that  poor  boy  as 
he  stood  over  yonder  amid  the  pine  hills  of  east 
Texas,  alone  in  the  world,  and  while  war  was  deso 
lating  the  South;  no  parents,  no  money,  no  home, 


68  Oratory  of  the  South 

with  nothing  to  encourage  his  hopes  as  he  stood  and 
listened  to  the  winds  moaning  through  the  tall  pines 
above  him.  Was  there  no  help  for  the  widow's  son? 
Yes,  the  help  was  within  him,  for  he  was  a  brave 
man's  son  and  had  a  fearless  soul. 

Turn  now  another  leaf  in  the  history  of  this  or 
phan  boy  and  see  him  selling  newspapers  on  the  streets 
of  Tyler — with  Horace  Chilton,  whom  he  appointed 
years  afterwards  to  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Sen 
ate.  Before  he  was  twenty-two  years  old  he  was 
publishing  from  a  hand  press  a  little  town  paper  of 
his  own.  While  he  was  still  a  printer,  a  young  me 
chanic  was  with  him  listening  to  the  argument  of  a 
lawyer,  when  he  said:  "If  we  had  studied  law  we 
could  make  as  good  a  speech  as  that."  They  both 
began  at  once  the  study  of  law,  but  it  was  slow  work, 
for  they  had  to  toil  for  bread  and  raiment,  and  it 
was  four  years  before  Hogg  obtained  his  license. 

Turn  another  leaf.  As  a  lawyer  he  realized  that 
a  freeman  should  bow  only  before  the  majesty  of 
the  law,  and  that  he  should  be  always  ready  to  en 
force  its  authority;  for  the  law  is  our  only  king. 
One  day  two  desperadoes  armed  with  pistols  had 
terrorized  the  officers  of  the  law  and  were  riding 
their  horses  into  the  stores.  Young  Hogg  and  a 
friend  knocked  them  down,  disarmed  them,  and  put 
them  in  jail.  Soon  afterwards  he  was  waylaid  and 
shot  down,  but  he  recovered  and  bore  the  deep  wound 
to  his  grave.  He  was  wounded  again,  and  more 
than  once,  but  in  each  case  it  was  while  he  was  de 
fending  the  majesty  of  the  law. 

His  moral  courage  was  sublime,  for  he  dared  to 
do  whatever  he  thought  was  right,  never  counting 
either  the  odds  or  the  cost.  At  the  Democratic  State 
convention  in  Waco,  you  remember  an  angry  mob  of 
a  thousand  delegates  refused  with  shouts  and  execra 
tions  to  hear  him  speak.  He  stood  calm  and  fearless 


Alexander  W.  Terrell  69 

through  the  storm  until  he  awed  them  into  silence; 
they  then  listened,  approved  and  adopted  the  very 
resolutions  they  had  at  first  opposed.  History  gives 
no  other  record  of  such  a  triumph. 

Governor  Hogg  was  a  consistent  Christian.  If 
he  was  not  found  as  often  as  other  men  among  church 
worshipers,  what  of  that?  He  had  read  how  the 
Master  in  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount  warned  his  fol 
lowers  not  to  be  like  those  who  loved  to  pray  stand 
ing  in  the  synagogues  and  on  the  street  corners,  to  be 
seen  of  men.  His  was  not  the  hard,  repulsive  faith 
of  Jerome  and  Augustine,  who  worshiped  a  God  of 
vengeance.  He  adored  a  God  of  love.  He  saw  in 
all  nature — in  its  harmonies,  its  flowers,  its  birds  of 
song,  and  its  beauty — a  God  of  love  who  took  no 
delight  in  the  punishment  of  His  children.  Though 
he  believed  that  some  just  penalty  should  follow 
violated  law,  he  trusted  to  an  atoning  sacrifice  and 
to  the  love  of  a  merciful  God. 

He  is  gone  from  amongst  us  to  that  mysterious 
rest  toward  which  we  all  hasten.  No  more  will  we 
look  on  that  manly,  genial  face  on  which  there  was 
no  line  of  cunning  or  duplicity.  The  warm  grasp  of 
his  hand  will  be  felt  no  more,  nor  will  his  clear  blue 
eyes  beam  again  in  sympathy  for  us.  We  have  laid 
away  tenderly  and  with  loving  hands  the  shell  in 
which  the  deathless  soul  once  lingered,  and  placed  it 
beside  that  of  his  gentle  wife.  No  cold  marble  will 
press  on  his  coffined  clay,  but  nature,  with  each  re 
turning  spring,  will  spread  her  mantle  of  green  over 
his  breast  and  bedeck  it  with  wild  flowers.  The  trees 
that  he  loved  will  wave  their  lofty  branches  above 
his  tomb,  "to  rock  the  high  nest,  and  take  both  the 
bird  and  the  breeze  to  their  breast."  In  the  years 
to  come  the  youth  of  Texas  will  visit  that  tomb  as 
a  hallowed  shrine,  and,  there  renewing  their  fidelity 
to  a  government  by  the  people,  will  be  inspired  with 


70  Oratory  of  the  South 

new  hope  and  courage.  The  mocking-bird  once 
cheered  the  heart  of  the  orphan  boy  in  its  desolation ; 
it  will  come  again,  and  on  the  topmost  bough  that 
will  wave  above  his  tomb,  it  will  swing  and  sing  a 
clear,  sweet,  triumphant  requiem  for  the  repose  of  the 
great  tribune  of  the  people. 


TRIBUTE  TO  PRESIDENT  McKINLEY 
MONROE  M'CLURG 

Ex-Attorney  General  of  Mississippi 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  Jackson,  Miss., 
September,  1901.] 

President  McKinley  came  of  a  sturdy  Scotch  an 
cestry  and  possessed  the  incomparable  heritage  of 
being  a  native,  free-born,  Anglo-Saxon  American 
citizen.  By  birth  he  was  neither  a  patrician  nor  a 
peasant,  but  the  offspring  of  a  plain,  honest  stock  that 
filled  his  veins  with  the  best  blood  of  both  classes 
and  his  heart  with  all  of  the  sympathies,  all  of  the 
hopes,  and  all  of  the  aspirations  of  the  great  heart 
of  his  country.  His  life  had  been  a  training  school 
for  the  presidency:  a  teacher,  a  post  office  clerk,  a 
soldier,  a  politician,  a  Congressman  fourteen  years, 
and  two  terms  Governor  of  his  native  State. 

In  peace  and  in  war,  under  all  circumstances,  he 
deported  himself  as  became  the  chief  executive  of  a 
free  and  independent  people.  The  gold  standard, 
the  highest  tariff,  the  freedom  of  Cuba,  the  subjuga 
tion  and  purchase  of  the  Philippines,  industrial  com 
binations,  the  softening  of  sectional  hatred,  the 
surprising  exhibition  of  American  courage,  valor,  and 
power  in  the  army  and  navy,  especially  the  history  of 
Manila  Bay,  San  Juan,  and  Santiago,  and  the  adjust 
ment  of  international  complications  in  China, — will 


Monroe  McClurg  71 

all  be  closely  associated  with  his  name  as  President  of 
the  United  States. 

And  yet  higher  still — supremely  higher  than  party 
politics  and  enforced  national  glory — McKinley  as  a 
President  in  his  private  and  domestic  life  was  a  living 
lesson  to  all  Christian  civilization.  His  daily  walk 
and  conversation  was  a  living  lesson  constantly  exem 
plifying  the  real  strength  of  the  national  character — 
the  purity  of  individual  conscience,  the  strength  of 
personal  will,  the  reverence  of  Divine  power.  As  a 
President  of  eighty  millions  of  free  people  he 
measured  up  to  the  most  exalted  standard  for  him 
who  fills  that  office.  He  loved  and  served  all  sec 
tions  and  all  classes,  and  was  an  exemplar  worthy  of 
all  imitation.  He  lived  and  died  a  manly  man. 

We  are  told  that  when  Montesquieu  came  to  die 
his  spiritual  adviser  said  to  him,  "No  man,  better 
than  you,  sir,  can  realize  the  greatness  of  God." 
"No  one,"  he  replied,  "knows  better  the  littleness  of 


man." 


So  it  was  with  our  President.  Passing  into  that 
artificial  sleep  that  robs  the  surgeon's  knife  of  pain, 
the  last  whisper  caught  from  his  lips  by  the  attend 
ing  men  of  science  was,  "Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy 
will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  In  his  de 
lirium  he  murmured,  "Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee," 
and  when  the  final  summons  came  he  said,  "Good-by, 
all,  good-by.  It's  God's  way.  His  will  be  done." 
Then  he  took  his  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death. 

"Not,  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night, 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,   he  approaches  his  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 


72  Oratory  of  the  South 

UPON  THE  DEATH  OF  WILLIAM 
McKINLEY 

MARCELLUS  L.  DAVIS 
Of  the  Dardanelle  (Ark.)  Bar 

_  [Condensed  from  an  address  delivered  at  a  memorial  ser 
vice  held  at  Dardanelle,  Ark.,  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
President's  funeral.] 

The  assassination  of  President  McKinley,  a  strong 
man,  in  the  very  prime  and  vigor  of  the  most  exalted 
position  of  public  usefulness  possible  to  the  human 
race,  resting  upon  the  very  summit  of  American 
honor,  in  the  full  of  enjoyment  of  the  profound  re 
spect  of  universal  civilization,  upon  a  mission  of  per 
fect  peace,  and  standing,  as  it  seemed  to  all,  solid 
and  secure  upon  the  devotion,  the  love,  and  the  loyalty 
of  a  great  and  mighty  people,  and  in  the  very  midst 
of  a  multitude  of  friends, — why  he  should  be  so 
stricken  down,  at  such  a  time;  why  such  a  man,  at 
such  an  hour  and  at  such  ignoble  hands  should  fall, 
is  to  me  a  thing  so  monstrous,  so  incomprehensible, 
a  question  so  utterly  beyond  the  compass  of  any  con 
ception  of  either  mine  or  yours,  that  I  believe  that 
no  finite  mind  can  even  imagine  why  it  should  have 
happened  so.  And  it  was  a  question,  too,  that 
seemed  to  have  puzzled  much  the  troubled  brain  of 
the  suffering  President  during  the  last  hours  of  his 
life,  if  not  to  its  very  end.  For  to  a  heart  so  free 
from  malice  as  his,  to  a  nature  so  gentle,  so  knightly, 
and  so  noble,  to  a  mind  so  lofty  and  so  pure,  a  char 
acter  so  clean,  so  chaste  and  kind,  and  so  filled  with 
charity  to  all  his  race,  it  must  have  seemed  incredible 
that  any  creature  in  human  form  or  otherwise  should 
seek  to  take  his  life.  We  might  moralize,  theorize, 
or  philosophize  upon  the  causes,  remote  or  near,  that 
could  produce  conditions  to  render  such  a  tragedy 


Marcellus  L.  Davis  73 

possible;  but  after  all,  perhaps,  it  is  well  enough,  at 
least  for  the  present,  to  leave  this  great  question  and 
its  answer  just  where  he  left  it,  who  was  its  victim — 
for  among  the  last,  if  not  the  very  last,  words  that 
he  uttered  as  he  died  was  the  simple  single  sentence 
that  solved  it  all:  "It  was  God's  way."  That 
settled  it  as  it  settles  all  great  questions,  especially 
the  supreme  question,  as  to  how  or  why  or  when  a 
man  shall  die.  It  was  the  answer  of  a  Christian, 
a  philosopher,  a  brave  man,  who  could  "calmly  lay 
his  burdens  down,  and  seek  his  rest,  with  all  his  coun 
try's  honors  blest." 

Concerning  the  assassin,  here  is  no  place  to  speak 
of  that.  The  personal  mention  of  a  monster  of 
malice,  a  fiend  so  foul,  so  cruel  and  so  cowardly 
should  never  mar  a  presence  so  sacred  and  so  holy 
as  this.  We  may  safely  leave  the  fate  of  this  moral 
deformity  to  the  future.  Our  brethren  of  the  North 
will  deal  with  him  according  to  the  laws  of  the  land. 
They  are  cooler  under  crises,  more  dispassionate, 
more  long-suffering  and  patient  than  we  of  the  hot- 
blooded  South,  and  equally  just  in  the  end.  But  one 
opinion  I  will  venture  to  assert — an  humble  one  of 
my  own,  'tis  true,  and,  for  aught  I  know,  hitherto 
wholly  unexpressed,  and  that  is :  Had  this  thing  been 
done  on  Southern  soil,  had  a  deed  so  dastardly,  a 
crime  so  cruel,  so  cowardly  and  so  causeless  been 
committed  in  a  crowd  of  Southern  men  like  the  mighty 
multitude  where  this  thing  happened,  aye,  even  in 
the  intensely  Southern  State  of  Arkansas,  not  all  the 
cordons  of  all  the  police  of  all  the  municipalities  of 
the  combined  Commonwealth,  backed  by  armies  and 
banked  with  siege  guns,  could  for  one  moment  have 
stayed  the  storm  of  righteous  wrath  and  just  indig 
nation  that  would  have  seized  the  assassin  on  the  spot 
and  ripped  him  limb  from  limb,  and  sent  his  blood 
stained  soul  to  judgment  before  the  smoke  had  ceased 


74  Oratory  of  the  South 

to  curl  from  his  pistol's  mouth — and  in  less  time  than 
I  have  taken  to  tell  it.  But  let  that  pass.  It  is  to 
be  regretted,  perhaps,  that  we  have  let  too  many 
things  pass  in  this  government.  I  shall  pause  to 
mention  only  one,  but  it  is  the  saddest,  I  think,  of 
all.  It  is  yet  within  the  memory  of  living  man, 
scarce  more  than  a  generation  gone  by,  when  it  was 
the  proudest  boast  of  American  citizenship  that  we 
lived  in  a  land  where  the  earth  was  absolutely  free 
to  all,  where  every  man,  rich  or  poor,  or  high  or  low, 
or  weak  or  strong,  or  what  not,  be  he  President  or 
pauper,  could  pursue  his  path  in  peace  along  the  pub 
lic  highway,  or  wander  through  the  fields  or  wend 
his  way  among  the  woods,  or  walk  the  crowded 
streets  at  will,  by  midday  or  by  moonlight,  whenever, 
wherever,  and  however  he  chose,  and  none  there  be 
who  dare  molest  or  make  him  afraid;  and  we  used  to 
smile  with  amusement  when  we'd  read  of  the  armed 
troops  that  thronged  and  tramped  at  the  heels  of 
kings,  of  the  pampered  soldiery  that  sentineled  the 
palaces  of  power,  and  the  mailed  warriors  and  squad 
rons  of  cavalry  that  thundered  beside  the  chariots  of 
czars  and  queens  and  princes  and  potentates,  to  guard 
their  royal  persons  from  the  vengeance  of  the  despot- 
ridden  subjects  of  the  Old  World;  but  we  can  now 
no  longer  boast,  no  longer  smile.  We  have  let  that 
pass.  Those  good  old,  grand  old  golden  days  have 
gone,  we  fear,  forever. 

But  to  recur  to  the  President.  The  little  time 
allotted  here  will  not  allow  even  an  attempt  to  trace 
this  bright  career  that  has  just  been  blotted  out  in 
blood,  nor  may  we  sketch  anew  the  royal  path  of  life 
along  which  he  never  failed  to  tread.  He  wore  the 
highest  honors  that  his  country  could  confer,  and 
wore  them  well  and  worthily.  He  had  achieved  the 
most  exalted  station  of  political  power  in  this  govern 
ment,  the  loftiest  eminence,  the  very  keystone  of  the 


Marcellus  L.  Davis  75 

tallest  arch  of  American  honor  that  ever  sprung  from 
the  basic  foundations  of  our  Constitution.  Other 
men  before  him  had  occupied  that  high  position,  had 
risen,  reigned,  and  fallen.  Other  men  had  reached 
those  towering  heights  and  returned  again  to  the 
walks  of  private  life,  to  pass  their  days  in  peace 
among  their  families  and  friends.  But  not  so  with 
him.  He  came  down  no  more.  The  departure  of 
this  spirit  from  this  proudest  pinnacle  of  earthly 
honor  and  power  to  realms  yet  higher  still  may  be 
likened  to  the  eagle's  flight,  as  standing  upon  the 
peak  of  some  splintered  crag,  lifted  above  the  storm- 
swept  summit  of  some  lonely  mountain  height,  he 
plumes  his  pinions  in  the  sun,  unfurls  his  mighty 
wings,  then  boldly  launching  upwards  to  the  sky,  he 
cleaves  his  gallant  way  beyond  the  clouds  of  earth. 
It  was  enough.  "Come  up  higher."  He  hath  gone. 
But  in  a  lowly  humble  way,  in  a  simple  personal  way, 
as  a  friend  or  father,  husband,  son,  or  brother,  we 
can  only  weep  with  those  who  weep,  and  mourn  with 
those  who  mourn,  and  tenderly  sympathize  with  those 
whom  his  death  hath  personally  bereft.  It  is  all  that 
we  can  do.  We  can  only  hope  that  the  song  birds 
that  warble  in  springtime  shall  sweetly  sound  above 
his  sleeping  dust;  that  the  sunlit  leaves  of  summer 
shall  softly  whisper  hope  to  the  dull,  cold  ear  of 
death,  and  that  the  sheeted  snows  of  winter  with  love 
shall  lay  their  pure  white  pall  above  the  bosom  of  the 
dead,  true  type,  fit  emblem,  of  the  record  of  spotless 
honor  that  his  noble  name  hath  borne. 


76  Oratory  of  the  South 

EDUCATION  AND  PROGRESS 

BENJAMIN  H.  HILL 
Formerly  United  States  Senator  from  Georgia 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  before  the  Alumni  So 
ciety  of  the  University  of  Georgia,  Athens,  Ga.,  July  31, 
1871.] 

In  the  present,  far  more  than  in  any  preceding  age, 
ideas  govern  mankind.  Not  individuals  nor  societies, 
not  kings  nor  emperors,  not  fleets  nor  armies,  but 
ideas — educated  intellects — using  and  controlling  all 
these,  as  does  the  mechanic  his  tools,  uproot  dynas 
ties,  overturn  established  systems,  subvert  and  reor 
ganize  governments,  revolutionize  social  fabrics,  and 
direct  civilizations.  True,  we  have  the  most  won 
derful  physical  developments — as  marvelous  in  char 
acter  as  they  are  rapid  in  multiplication.  Whether 
we  look  to  the  engines  of  war  or  the  arts  of  peace, 
to  the  means  of  destruction  or  the  appliances  for 
preservation,  to  the  facilities  for  distribution  or  the 
sources  of  production  and  accumulation,  we  shall  find 
nothing  in  the  past  comparable  to  the  achievements 
of  the  present.  But  all  these  gigantic  elements  of 
physical  power  are  but  the  fruits  of  educated  minds — 
have  leaped  into  being  at  the  command  of  ideas,  and 
they  are  under  the  absolute  command  of  ideas;  and 
whether  they  shall  really  promote  or  destroy  civili 
zations  must  depend  altogether  upon  the  wise  or  un 
wise  discretion  of  this  omnipotent  commander. 
Thought  is  the  Hercules  of  this  age,  and  his  strength 
is  equally  a  vigorous  fact,  whether  it  be  employed  in 
throttling  the  lion  of  power  or  in  cleaning  out  the 
Augean  stables  of  accumulated  social  errors.  Moving 
by  nations,  by  races,  and  by  systems,  this  irresistible 
ruler — educated  thought — is  setting  aside  old  and 
setting  up  new  civilizations  at  will. 


Benjamin  H.  Hill  77 

It  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  analyze  the  different 
civilizations  which  are  competing  in  the  great  strug 
gle  to  lead  humanity,  nor  to  select  any  one  for 
prominent  advocacy.  Nor  must  I  be  understood  as 
saying  that  that  which  changes  always  reforms,  nor 
yet  that  every  apparent  triumph  is  a  just  progress. 
But  this  much  I  affirm  is  true :  that  community,  that 
people,  that  nation — nay,  that  race  or  that  system 
which,  Diogenes-like,  will  now  content  itself  with 
living  in  its  own  tub,  asking  nothing  of  the  conquering 
powers  around  it  except  that  they  stand  out  of  its 
sunshine,  will  soon  find  itself  in  hopeless  darkness, 
the  object  of  derision  for  its  helplessness,  and  of  con 
tempt  for  its  folly.  Whether  civilizations,  on  the 
whole,  be  going  forward  or  going  backward,  the 
result  must  be  the  same  to  those  who  insist  on  stand 
ing  still — they  must  be  overwhelmed.  Because  all  the 
world  is,  therefore  each  portion  of  the  world  must, 
be  awake  and  thinking — up  and  acting.  Nor  can 
we  afford  to  waste  time  and  strength  in  defense  of 
theories  and  systems,  however  valued  in  their  day, 
which  have  been  swept  down  by  the  moving  aval 
anche  of  actual  events.  No  system  which  has  fallen 
and  been  destroyed  in  the  struggles  of  the  past  will 
ever  be  able  to  rise  and  grapple  with  the  increasing 
power  of  its  conqueror  in  the  future.  We  can  live 
neither  in  nor  by  the  defeated  past,  and  if  we  would 
live  in  the  growing,  conquering  future,  we  must  fur 
nish  our  strength  to  shape  its  course  and  our  will  to 
discharge  its  duties.  The  pressing  question,  there 
fore,  with  every  people  is,  not  what  they  have  been, 
but  whether  and  what  they  shall  determine  to  be; 
not  what  their  fathers  were,  but  whether  and  what 
their  children  shall  be. 

God  in  events — mysteriously,  it  may  be,  to  us — 
has  made  the  educated  men  in  the  South,  of  this 
generation,  the  living  leaders  of  thought  for  a  great 


78  Oratory  of  the  South 

and  a  noble  people,  but  a  people  bewildered  by  the 
suddenness  with  which  they  have  been  brought  to 
one  of  those  junctures  in  human  affairs  when  one 
civilization  abruptly  ends  and  another  begins.  I  feel 
oppressed  with  a  sense  of  fear  that  we  shall  not  be 
equal  to  the  unusual  responsibilities  this  condition  im 
poses,  unless  we  can  deal  frankly  with  these  events, 
frankly  with  ourselves,  and  bravely  with  our  very 
habits  of  thought.  Though  unjustly,  even  cruelly 
slain,  brave  survivors  lie  not  down  with  the  dead,  but 
rise  up  resolved  all  the  more  to  be  leaders  and  con 
querors  with  and  for  the  living. 

No  period  in  the  history  and  fortunes  of  our  State 
was  ever  half  so  critical  as  the  present.  And  in  this 
anxious  hour — this  crisis  of  her  fate — to  whom  shall 
the  State  look  with  hope  if  not  to  her  own  educated 
sons?  On  whom  shall  this  loved  University  now  lean 
with  faith  if  not  on  her  own  alumni?  Who  shall 
stay  the  coming  of  Philip,  if  Athenians  abandon 
Greece?  Who  shall  save  our  Rome  from  the  clutch 
of  despot  and  the  tread  of  the  vandal,  if  our  An- 
tonies  still  madly  follow  the  fleeing,  faithless,  fallen 
African? 

Gentlemen,  we  cannot  escape  the  responsibility 
pressing  upon  us.  If  we  prove  unequal  to  our  duties 
now,  then  a  State,  with  every  natural  gift  but  worthy 
sons,  appropriated  by  others,  and  a  University  fallen 
in  the  midst  of  her  own  listless,  unheeding  children, 
must  be  the  measure  of  our  shame  in  the  future. 
But  if  we  prove  equal  to  those  duties  now,  then  a 
State  surpassed  by  none  in  wealth,  worth,  and  power, 
with  the  University  made  immortal  for  her  crown, 
will  be  the  glory  that  is  waiting  to  reward  our  ambi 
tion. 

And  we  shall  escape  this  shame  and  win  this  glory 
if  we  now  will  fully  comprehend  and  manfully  act 
upon  three  predicate  propositions :  first,  that  the  civ- 


Benjamin  H.  Hill  79 

ilization  peculiar  to  the  Southern  States  hitherto  has 
passed  away,  and  forever;  second,  that  no  new  civi 
lization  can  be  equal  to  the  demands  of  the  age  which 
does  not  lay  its  foundations  in  the  intelligence  of  the 
people  and  in  the  multiplication  and  social  elevation 
of  educated  industries;  third,  that  no  system  of  edu 
cation  for  the  people,  and  for  the  multiplication  of 
the  industries,  can  be  complete,  or  efficient,  or  avail 
able,  which  does  not  begin  with  an  ample,  well- 
endowed,  and  independent  university. 

These  three  postulates  embody  the  triunity  of  all 
our  hope  as  a  people.  Here  the  work  of  recovery 
must  begin — and  in  this  way  alone,  and  by  you  alone, 
can  it  be  begun.  The  educated  men  of  the  South,  of 
this  generation,  must  be  responsible  for  the  future 
of  the  South.  The  educated  men  of  Georgia  now 
before  me  must  be  responsible  for  the  future  of 
Georgia.  That  future  will  be  anything  you  now 
command.  From  every  portion  of  this  dear  old 
Commonwealth  there  comes  this  day  an  earnest, 
anxious  voice  to  you,  saying,  Shall  we  command,  or 
shall  we  serve?  Shall  we  rise,  or  shall  we  fall  yet 
lower  ?  Shall  we  live,  or  shall  we  die  ? 

Gathering  in  my  own  the  voices  of  you  all,  and 
with  hearts  resolved  and  purposes  fixed,  I  send  back 
the  gladdening  response:  We  shall  live!  We  shall 
rise!  We  shall  command!  We  have  given  up  the 
dusky  Helen — pity  we  kept  the  harlot  so  long! 
True,  alas!  Hector  is  dead,  and  Priam  is  dethroned; 
and  Troy,  proud  Troy,  has  glared  by  the  torch,  and 
crumbled  'neath  the  blows,  and  wept  'mid  the  jeers  of 
reveling  Greeks  in  every  household.  But  more  than 
a  hundred  Aeneases  live!  On  more  than  a  hundred 
broader,  deeper  Tibers  we  will  found  greater  cities, 
rear  richer  temples,  raise  loftier  towers,  until  all  the 
world  shall  respect  and  fear,  and  even  the  Greeks 
shall  covet,  honor,  and  obey ! 


SO  Oratory  of  the  South 

THE  USES  OF  A  LIBRARY 

SAMUEL  M.  SMITH 

Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Columbia,  S.  C. 

[Extract  from  an  address  at  the  dedication  of  the  Car 
negie  Library,  Winthrop  College,  Rock  Hill,  S.  C.,  June 
4,  1906.] 

The  country  of  Scotland!  bare  and  barren,  harsh 
and  ungracious  in  climate,  somewhat  rude  and  un 
graceful  in  the  amenities  that  adorn  life,  and  yet  like 
the  granite  of  her  hills  and  the  heather  of  her  plains, 
strong  and  enduring  in  every  element  of  noble  char 
acter,  from  the  largess  of  her  unwasting  abundance 
she  has  enriched  every  nation  of  the  globe.  Of  her 
this  proverb  runs:  That  the  aspiring  eye  of  every 
youth  within  her  borders  can  see  the  turrets  of  a  uni 
versity  from  the  nearest  hill-top !  The  occasion  has 
suggested  this  line  of  thought  because  my  fancy  pic 
tures  a  library  as  in  a  very  real  though  not  formal 
sense  something  of  a  university,  wherein  great  books 
are  life's  teachers;  the  faculty  being  in  such  cases 

"Those  dead  but  sceptered  sovereigns, 
Who  rule  our  spirits  from  their  urns — " 

perhaps  in  one  sense  of  the  word  the  only  real  uni 
versity  in  which  every  branch  of  human  learning  has 
its  greatest  representatives,  where  the  fruits  of  hu 
man  research  in  every  department  of  investigation 
are  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  diligent  learner,  where 
the  achievements  of  the  human  mind  in  every  age  and 
stage  of  its  restless,  ceaseless  progress  are  registered 
and  catalogued  for  ready  reference  and  placed  within 
the  easy  reach  of  all,  without  money  and  without 
price. 

And  so  it  seems  to  me  no  odd  conceit  to  call  a 


Samuel  M.  Smith  81 

great  library  a  university,  as  the  seat  of  a  learning 
universal  in  its  scope  and  universal  in  its  accessibility. 
Pursuing  the  figure,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  all  courses 
in  this  school  are  absolutely  "elective."  To  the 
student  is  left  an  unrestricted,  unqualified  option  in 
every  particular  as  to  the  character  and  extent  of  his 
courses;  what  he  shall  study,  how  much,  and  how, 
and  when — all  is  left  to  his  unfettered  choice.  So 
far  as  my  observation  goes,  the  only  restriction  in  any 
library  is  put  upon  the  tongue  (possibly  in  some  in 
stances  a  grievous  bondage)  ;  but  though  the  mouth 
be  fettered,  the  mind  is  free.  Freedom,  however,  is 
always  a  dangerous  privilege,  and  this  instance  forms 
no  exception;  its  best  exercise  requires  the  restraints 
of  severe  discipline.  Any  librarian's  register  will 
illustrate  this  somewhat  vividly,  possibly  somewhat 
sadly. 

There  is  danger  in  the  very  fullness  offered  by 
every  reasonably  complete  library.  In  the  vast 
variety  of  tempting  viands  spread  upon  the  boun 
teous  table  there  are  large  possibilities  of  intellectual 
dyspepsia  for  that  eater  who  crams  "the  stomach  of 
his  sense"  with  food  unwholesome  in  character  or 
disproportionate  in  amount.  Digestion  doubtless 
has  often  been  injured  beyond  remedy  by  immature 
minds,  who,  like  other  children,  feed  too  exclusively 
on  cakes,  candies,  and  pickles  to  the  exclusion  of  more 
substantial  and  more  wholesome  diet.  A  library  so 
misused  is  a  great  blessing  perverted  into  an  unmiti 
gated  curse;  for  it  is  a  mistake  to  say,  as  some  do, 
that  any  reading  is  better  than  none. 

When  one  walks  amid  the  shelves  of  a  great  library 
the  mere  multitude  of  candidates  for  his  favor  is  be 
wildering.  Some  ingenious  statistician  said  long  ago 
that  it  would  require  three  hundred  and  fifty  years 
for  a  diligent  student  to  read  only  the  acknowledged 
standards;  constant  currents  are  rapidly  increasing 


82  Oratory  of  the  South 

this  volume,  which  rises  like  a  flood  unceasingly  until 
it  leaves  man's  mind  like  Noah's  dove,  with  no  rest 
for  the  sole  of  its  foot ! 

Obviously  there  must  be  exigent  need  of  severe 
selection  lest  one  fritter  away  his  time  in  aimless  and 
fruitless  discursiveness;  one  may  readily  recognize 
the  temptation  besetting  a  man  who  is  by  calling  and 
habit  a  preacher  to  particularize  here  by  way  of 
special  and  practical  application.  I  shall  not,  how 
ever,  fall  a  willing  victim  to  the  insidious  seduction. 
To  recommend  books  is  attended  with  great  risk.  A 
volume  which  to  one  mind  is  a  veritable  mine  of 
fertile  suggestion  may  prove  to  another  intellect, 
equal  but  differently  constituted,  utterly  lacking  in 
every  element  of  quickening  inspiration;  a  book  which 
one  reader  finds  instinct  and  abounding  in  vivid  bril 
liance,  a  ceaseless  source  of  scintillant  sparkle,  another 
reader,  full  peer  in  every  respect  of  the  former,  will 
vote  irredeemably  dull,  and  heavy  as  sand.  All  read 
ing  should  be  either  instructive  or  stimulating,  should 
add  either  to  one's  information  or  inspiration,  should 
either  extend  his  knowledge  or  improve  his  character. 
To  put  it  more  largely  yet — without  any  exception 
whatever,  all  reading  should  be  either  creative  or 
recreative. 

So  much  for  a  general  guiding  principle;  when  it 
comes  to  the  application  of  this  general  principle  in 
detail,  each  one  must  be  left  to  his  own  discretion  as 
to  what  is  best  for  him.  Granted  a  seriousness  of 
purpose,  an  appreciation  alike  and  equally  of  the 
advantages  and  the  dangers,  one  is  not  likely  long  or 
greatly  to  err.  The  greatest  need  is  to  guard  against 
an  absolute  heedlessness  that  makes  reading  an  aim 
less  exercise,  indulged  mainly  for  that  most  murder 
ous  of  all  purposes,  uthe  killing  of  time." 

Let  us  indulge  the  hope  that  this  library,  the 
gracious  gift  of  a  great  and  generous  soul,  may  ever 


Dunbar  Rowland  83 

fulfill  the  office  designed  by  its  benevolent  donor;  and 
prove  a  center  of  radiating  light,  a  source  of  benefi 
cent  influence  upon  all  the  widening  circle  of  South 
Carolina's  girls  who  resort  hither  for  preparation  to 
brighten  and  to  bless  the  State,  whose  pride  and  joy 
it  is  to  call  them  her  daughters. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  POET 

DUNBAR  ROWLAND 

Director  of  the  Department  of  Archives  and  History,  State 
of  Mississippi 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  made  in  accepting  the  bust 
of  Irwin  Russell  presented  to  the  Mississippi  Department 
of  Archives  and  History  by  the  Mississippi  Teachers'  Asso 
ciation,  at  Gulfport,  Miss.,  May  4,  1907.] 

In  the  selfish  pursuit  of  the  material  men  sometimes 
forget  the  silent  and  unseen  forces  which  are  shaping 
the  destinies  of  mankind.  In  our  admiration  for  the 
arm  that  executes  we  lose  sight  of  the  brain  that  con 
ceives  and  directs.  In  paying  honor  to  the  statesman 
whose  words  move  myriads  of  minds,  and  in  singing 
the  praises  of  the  victorious  commanders  of  conquer 
ing  legions,  we  forget  that  they  are  merely  the  instru 
ments  of  some  mighty  principle  that  had  its  origin  in 
the  intellectual  ideals  of  a  people,  which  are  made  by 
its  great  scholars  and  poets,  who  shape  in  silence  the 
thoughts  that  control  and  direct  the  destiny  of  nations. 

William  Pitt  received  his  inspiration  from  William 
Shakespeare.  Savonarola  furnished  the  spark  which 
lit  the  fires  of  religious  freedom  and  liberty  of  con 
science  throughout  the  world.  Washington  and  Lee, 
two  of  the  greatest  apostles  of  liberty  the  world  has 
ever  known,  were  the  incarnations  of  the  highest 
spirit  of  a  civilization  that  ascended  to  supremest 
heights  upon  the  ideals  of  its  poets  and  scholars. 


84  Oratory  of  the  South 

Among  the  intellectual  ideals  of  a  people  none  give 
more  powerful  incentives  to  great  achievements  than 
the  poetic.  These  are  silent  and  invisible  influences, 
but  they  are  the  most  potent  that  animate  the  hearts 
of  men.  The  sacred  hymns  of  the  Christian  nations 
of  the  world  have  been  one  of  the  strongest  forces 
in  breaking  the  chains  of  paganism  and  infidelity 
and  in  enthroning  Christianity.  The  highest  exalta 
tion  of  the  soul  is  felt,  and  the  clearest  conception  of 
God  is  borne  in  on  the  mental  vision,  through  the 
divine  outbursts  of  poetical  inspiration  which  illumine 
the  pages  of  the  sacred  writings.  Every  land  has  its 
native  airs  and  songs,  which  are  more  effective  than 
its  armies  and  navies  in  guarding  the  liberties  of  the 
people,  and  which  more  than  all  other  forces  fill  their 
hearts  with  hope  and  courage. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  inspiring  strains  of  the 
"Marsellaise  Hymn"  the  people  of  France  overthrew 
a  corrupt  and  tyrannical  government  and  placed  the 
tricolor  of  their  country  over  the  proudest  and  most 
valiant  nations  of  Europe.  The  "Watch  on  the 
Rhine"  aroused  the  martial  spirit  of  Germany  and 
enabled  Bismarck  and  Von  Moltke  to  create  the  great 
German  Empire.  When  the  Englishman  hears 
"God  Save  the  King,"  though  he  may  be  thousands 
of  miles  away,  his  moistened  eye  turns  to  his  native 
land.  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner"  arouses  in  the 
hearts  of  Americans  the  sublimest  love  of  liberty  and 
independence.  These  are  the  things  which  inspire 
emulation,  ambition,  love  of  country,  and  hatred  of 
tyranny  and  oppression.  Where  there  is  no  response 
to  such  things,  and  no  worship  of  the  ideals  for 
which  they  stand,  national  life  and  aspiration  are 
extinct. 

In  every  race  where  man's  higher  nature  has  found 
expression  in  its  language,  the  purest  and  highest 
ideals  are  set  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  who, 


Dunbar  Rowland  8  5 

whether  they  turn  scholar  or  soldier,  statesman  or 
lawmaker,  mechanic  or  argriculturist,  will  exhibit  in 
their  achievements  some  likeness  of  the  source  from 
which  they  draw  their  inspiration.  Their  achieve 
ments  may  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the  world  with  the 
splendor  which  action  imparts,  but  it  must  be  the 
ideals  which  prompted  and  inspired  them  to  which 
the  people  must  ever  look  as  a  permanent  foundation 
upon  which  to  build  enduring  greatness. 

The  mortal  remains  of  England's  great  men  rest  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  in  a  quiet  corner  of  that 
stately  Gothic  cathedral  there  is  a  section  set  apart  in 
honor  of  poetic  genius,  as  an  evidence  of  the  eternal 
homage  to  letters  paid  by  a  people  who  have  fought 
the  battle  of  human  rights  and  human  progress  for 
centuries.  And  it  is  not  strange  that  England,  the 
noble  mother  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  should  honor 
Shakespeare,  Milton,  Goldsmith,  Burns,  Words 
worth,  and  Tennyson  above  those  whose  claims  to 
greatness  rest  upon  the  selfish  and  sordid  accumula 
tion  of  wealth. 

Though  men  have  sometimes  been  worshipers  of 
Mammon,  there  has  never  been  placed  in  any  Pan 
theon  a  Midas  or  a  Croesus,  and  the  laurel  wreath 
has  never  been  twined  about  the  brow  of  a  man  whose 
aspiration  raised  him  no  higher  than  the  love  of  the 
material.  The  immortal  garland  for  which  men  run 
must  be  won  on  paths,  however  bleak  and  rugged, 
which  lead  to  the  stars. 

And  it  was  upon  such  ideals  that  Irwin  Russell,  our 
own  young  poet,  sought  to  shape  the  expression  of 
his  life.  Brief  as  it  was,  his  life  gave  promise  of  a 
glorious  fulfillment.  He  was  the  pioneer  in  a  dis 
tinctive  literary  field,  and  in  being  original  gave  un 
mistakable  signs  of  genius  of  a  high  order.  For 
what  he  did  in  honor  of  it  a  loving  people  bring  this 
chaplet  for  his  young  brow. 


86  Oratory  of  the  South 

Let  us  believe  that  it  will  inspire  our  whole  people 
anew  with  a  love  and  veneration  for  those  things 
upon  which  rest  a  higher  and  more  beautiful  civili 
zation.  Let  us  hope  that  it  will  make  us  worthy  of 
having  it  written  of  us,  as  a  people,  what  Browning 
has  said  of  one  in  these  inspiring  lines : 

"One  who  never  turned  his  back,  but  marched  breast  for 
ward, 

Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 
Never    dreamed    tho'    right   were   worsted,    wrong   would 

triumph. 

Held,  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better, 
Sleep  to  wake." 


THE  PENALTIES  OF  PROGRESS 

THOMAS  W.  JORDAN 

Dean  of  the  Academic  Department  and  Professor  of  Latin, 
University  of  Tennessee 

[Extract  from  a  baccalaureate  address  at  the  University 
Commencement,  June  17,  1900.] 

Our  cherished  doctrine  of  economics — unrestricted 
competition — is  not  the  panacea  we  have  taken  it  to 
be.  We  have  exalted  it  unduly  and  expected  too  much 
of  it,  and  are  now  face  to  face  with  conditions  in 
which  utmost  happiness  does  not  follow  unlimited 
competition  and  rivalry.  It  is  a  theory  of  man  that 
leaves  the  man  out.  It  is  breaking  down  under  our 
complex  civilization,  not  because  it  is  not  the  truth, 
but  because  it  is  not  the  whole  truth.  And  half  truths 
have  been  an  accursed  thing  in  human  experience. 
They  are  forever  converting  the  cry  of  liberty  in  one 
place  into  the  command  of  a  tyrant  in  another,  and 
making  the  inspiration  of  one  age  the  damnation  of 
the  next. 


Thomas  W.  Jordan  Sf 

"That's  the  old  American  idee — 
Make  a  man  a  man  and  let  him  be." 

All  very  well,  but  first  make  him  a  man.  That  is 
not  done  by  releasing  him  from  every  other  obliga 
tion  to  earth  and  heaven  and  saying:  "Now  go  it. 
Cash  is  the  goal.  Every  fellow  for  himself  and  devil 
take  the  hindmost."  It  ends  in  every  fellow  for  him 
self  and  devil  take  us  all.  For  "I  do  know,"  with 
old  Thomas  Carlyle,  "that  cash  payment  is  not  the 
sole  relation  of  human  beings.  Cash  never  yet  paid 
one  man  fully  his  deserts  to  another,  nor  could  it,  nor 
can  it,  now  or  henceforth,  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
In  brief,  we  shall  have  to  dismiss  this  cash  gospel 
rigorously  to  its  own  place.  We  shall  have  to  know 
that  there  is  some  infinitely  deeper  gospel  subsidiary, 
explanatory,  and  daily  and  hourly  corrective  of  the 
cash  one,  or  else  that  the  cash  one  and  all  others  are 
fast  traveling." 

Animalism,  hunger,  vanity,  and  selfishness  in  gen 
eral,  may  be  trusted  to  look  out  for  themselves.  The 
work  of  encouraging  them  is  entirely  superfluous.  It 
has  ended  in  making  us  act  like  so  many  cattle  on  a 
crowded  car,  in  which  one  horns  and  pushes  the  one 
in  front  to  make  room  for  himself,  and  he  another, 
and  he  another,  and  when  all  are  horned  and  pushed 
and  the  weak  are  down  and  being  trampled  to  death 
beneath  the  hoofs  of  the  stronger  or  more  fortunate, 
we  call  our  bovine  philosophy  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  Its  whole  tendency  is  to  silence  the  voices  of 
gentleness,  meekness,  mercy,  brotherly  kindness,  pa 
tience,  charity.  Its  ear  is  dull  to  such  strains  as 
these:  "We,  then,  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the 
infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not  to  please  ourselves." 
"It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  "We 
are  members  one  of  another;  and  whether  one  mem 
ber  suffer  all  the  members  suffer  with  it,  or  one  mem- 


SB  Oratory  of  the  South 

her  be  honored  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it."  "He 
that  would  be  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  the 
servant  of  all."  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens  and 
so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ." 

Now,  our  watches  and  clocks  all  go  astray  unless 
they  are  constantly  regulated  and  corrected  by  the  ob 
servations  of  the  heavens.  This  philosophy  sets  its 
chronometers  by  the  earth  and  has  lost  the  reckon 
ing  of  the  stars.  It  has  turned  away  our  eyes  from 
the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire  and  sent  us  wandering 
in  the  wilderness  and  worshiping  a  golden  calf. 
Against  much  of  the  food  it  has  brought  us  we  cry 
out,  like  the  Israelites,  "Our  very  souls  loathe  itl" 
For  whatever  the  doctrine  of  laissez  faire  in  econom 
ics  has  brought  us  in  the  long  and  bitter  struggle  for 
industrial  emancipation,  I  am  glad.  For  whatever 
the  doctrine  of  selection  and  survival  has  brought  us 
in  our  efforts  to  understand  the  history  of  life,  I  am 
glad.  But  each  of  them  and  both  of  them  are  par 
tial,  and  each  of  them  and  both  of  them  may  become 
and  have  become  baleful  unless  sweetened  and  re 
deemed  by  the  ethics  of  Jesus  and  Paul. 

Under  the  pressure  of  this  sort  of  teaching,  giving 
fine  names  to  our  scramble  and  putting  spur  to  our 
greed,  our  material  progress  has  outstripped  the  intel 
lectual  and  moral  needed  to  balance  it,  and  the  center 
of  gravity  is  displaced.  The  harvest  of  this  seed- 
sowing  has  ripened  fast  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  cen 
tury — nowhere  faster  than  in  our  own  country.  It 
has  lowered  our  ideals.  We  have  put  the  emphasis 
on  what  a  man  has,  not  on  what  he  is.  Our  canon 
of  conduct  has  come  to  be,  "Does  it  pay?"  We  have 
idolized  "get  on"  rather  than  get  right.  We  have 
discounted  the  plain  man  and  woman  who  live  out 
their  simple  lives  in  homes  of  content  and  peace  and 
pay  their  debts  and  love  their  neighbors.  We  have 
said,  "Keep  up  with  the  procession,"  no  matter  which 


Thomas  W.  Jordan  89 

way  it  is  headed;  "shine  and  show,"  whether  the 
plumage  is  paid  for  or  not.  Where  we  couldn't  be 
rich  we  tried  to  appear  so,  and  yoked  our  expendi 
tures  to  our  desires  and  ambitions  rather  than  our  in 
comes.  And  so  we  have  seen  a  decade  of  wild  specu 
lation  and  reckless  borrowing.  It  has  left  us  with 
our  town  lots  in  the  city  of  nowhere,  and  our  homes, 
our  farms,  and  our  factories  blanketed  with  mort 
gages.  We  have  sowed  debt  and  reaped  distress. 
We  have  sowed  extravagance  and  reaped  disaster; 
and  when  we  are  looking  about  for  the  causes  of  our 
unrest  it  will  be  well  to  begin  at  Jerusalem.  The  one 
ever-present  source  of  our  troubles  is  our  ignoble 
selves. 

Every  great  question  is  at  bottom  a  moral  question ; 
and  in  all  lands,  in  all  times,  in  all  conditions,  the 
light  in  darkness,  the  guide  in  perplexity,  the  star  for 
the  disappointed  and  the  inspiration  for  the  hopeless, 
is  the  gospel- of  the  Son  of  God.  This  is  the  majestic 
voice  that  can  say  to  the  troubled  waters,  "Peace,  be 
still."  This  is  the  tree  whose  leaves  are  for  the  heal 
ing  of  our  nation  and  all  nations.  The  one  effective 
sanitary  agency  for  the  world,  diseased  in  all  its  parts, 
is  the  spirit  of  the  Father,  incarnate  in  the  Son,  and 
reproduced  in  the  faith-filled  lives  of  His  followers. 
Its  purpose  is  to  banish  sin,  the  great  social  and  eco 
nomic  as  well  as  spiritual  enemy  of  the  race.  It  re 
deems  business  from  sordidness,  while  it  saves  phi 
lanthropy  from  folly.  It  puts  bit  and  bridle  upon 
the  animal  that  is  in  us  and  sets  free  the  God.  Its 
keynote  is  peace  on  earth,  good-will  toward  men.  Its 
songs  are  the  solace  of  our  adversity  and  its  prophe 
cies  are  the  signals  of  our  relief.  It  reflects  upon  the 
things  that  are  seen  and  temporal  light  from  the 
things  that  are  unseen  and  eternal,  and  makes  all  lum 
inous.  This  is  the  force  that  is  swelling  the  sails  of 
the  old  ship  laden  with  the  cares  and  hopes  of  hu- 


90  Oratory  of  the  South 

manity.  We  are  sailing  under  sealed  orders,  it  is 
true,  but  we  have  gotten  our  chart,  not  from  the 
sodden  earth,  but  the  sunlit  skies;  and,  with  what 
ever  creaking  of  cordage  and  straining  of  timbers 
and  buffeting  of  waves  we  are  moving,  that  we 
do  move  is  proof  of  a  pilotage  not  of  man,  prophetic 
of  a  harbor  not  of  the  earth,  but  of  that  radiant  shore 
where  perfect  righteousness  will  make  possible  per 
fect  peace. 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  EDUCATED  MAN 
TO  HIS  COUNTRY 

FRANCIS  P.  VENABLE 
President  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina 

[The  concluding  part  of  an  address  delivered  before  the 
Alumni  Association  of  Lafayette  College,  Easton,  Pa.,  June 
21,  1904.] 

The  schools  have  not  made  the  American  people, 
but  the  people  have  made  the  schools,  says  the  re 
port  of  a  recent  commission.  Schools,  colleges,  uni 
versities,  are  absolutely  essential  for  a  democracy — 
for  a  free  people  and  a  free  church.  And  one  of  the 
chief  reasons  for  this  may  be  found  in  the  conserva 
tism  and  courage  which  come  through  education. 
The  voice  of  the  mob  does  not  mean  democracy,  but 
often  the  worst  form  of  tyranny,  as  the  French  Rev 
olution  testifies ;  and  it  is  idle  to  talk  of  an  equal  op 
portunity  for  all  among  an  ignorant  people.  Not  all 
educated  men  are  courageous,  but  the  man  who  has 
attained  to  true  self-mastery  shows  the  highest  type 
of  courage.  He  weighs  the  difficulties,  knows  the 
dangers,  and  yet  stands  undismayed.  If  right  is  on 
his  side,  it  matters  little  how  small  the  minority  that 
joins  hands  with  him.  In  God's  own  good  time  right 


Francis  P.  Venable  91 

and  the  truth  shall  prevail,  and  he  has  the  courage 
for  patient  waiting.  He  has  the  courage  to  oppose 
wrong  in  high  places.  Misrepresentation,  lies,  aye, 
death  itself,  cannot  turn  him  from  the  path  of  duty. 
Faith  in  himself,  in  his  mission,  in  his  God,  shining 
like  a  star,  leads  him  on. 

My  friends,  there  may  be  talent,  there  may  be 
genius,  without  such  courage  and  without  such  faith, 
but  it  is  of  a  poor  and  watery  kind  and  of  little  worth 
in  fighting  this  world's  battles,  or  in  the  making  of  a 
people.  The  truly  educated  man  is  such  as  I  have 
painted  him,  and  more.  Sometimes  God  sends  one 
such  man,  full  panoplied,  to  a  people — His  most 
splendid,  precious  gift  to  them. 

For  a  nation  to  achieve  such  a  man  is  no  accidental 
merit,  says  rugged,  honest  old  Carlyle.  "Nay,  I 
rather  think,  could  we  look  into  the  Account-Books 
of  the  Recording  Angel  for  a  course  of  centuries,  no 
part  of  it  is  such.  There  are  nations  in  which  such  a 
man  is,  or  can  be  possible ;  and  again  there  are  nations 
in  which  he  is  not  and  cannot.  To  be  practically  rev 
erent  of  human  worth  to  the  due  extent  and  abhor 
rent  of  human  want  of  worth;  to  love  human  merit 
enough  and  to  abhor  human  scoundrelism ;  that  rev 
erence  and  its  corresponding  opposite  pole  of  abhor 
rence  is  the  supreme  strength  and  glory  of  a  nation, 
without  which  indeed  all  other  strengths  and  enormi 
ties  of  bullion  and  arsenals  and  warehouses  are  no 
strength.  Nations  who  have  lost  this  quality  or  who 
never  had  it,  what  strong,  true  man  can  they  hope  to 
be  possible  among  them?  Age  after  age  they  grind 
them  down  contentedly  under  the  hoofs  of  their  cat 
tle  on  their  highways;  and  even  find  it  an  excellent 
practice,  and  pride  themselves  on  Liberty  and  Equal 
ity.  Most  certain  it  is,  no  such  man  will  come  to 
rule  them ;  by  and  by,  there  will  none  be  born  there. 
Such  nations  cannot  have  a  man  to  command  them, 


92  Oratory  of  the  South 

can  only  have  this  or  that  other  scandalous  swindling 
copper  captain,  constitutional  Gilt  Mountebank,  or 
other — the  like  unsalutary  entity  by  way  of  ruler; 
and  the  sins  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon  the  child 
ren  in  a  frightful  and  tragical  manner." 

So  reasons  the  truth-loving,  lie-scorning  old  philos 
opher,  and  he  speaks  truly.  It  was  because  this  people 
deserved  a  Washington,  a  Lincoln,  and  a  Lee  that 
such  leaders  were  vouchsafed  them  and  such  glorious 
lives  lived  in  their  country's  service.  And  if  we 
cleave  straight  to  the  heart  of  things,  as  our  fathers 
did,  and  follow  not  the  false  gods  of  materialism, 
mammon,  and  unconsecrated  intellect,  our  children 
also  shall  deserve  and  shall  have  such  leaders. 

But  some  may  say,  granting  all  of  this,  still  there 
are  few  such  men  in  a  generation  or  in  a  country. 
What  message  have  you  for  the  greater  number  of 
us — those  who  have  been  favored  with  the  oppor 
tunity  of  education,  but  have  not  attained  complete 
self-mastery  nor  developed  great  powers?  Ah,  my 
brothers,  you  have  your  responsibility,  your  duty,  and 
your  place  in  the  great  scheme.  See  that  you  render 
your  service,  even  though  it  appear  slight  and  of  little 
moment. 

For  all  life  has  one  meaning,  one  truest,  highest 
meaning,  and  that  is  service.  To  those  who  have 
had  the  higher  training,  it  means  the  nobler  service 
as  leaders — leaders  in  all  that  is  for  the  good  of  the 
people  and  the  building  of  the  nation.  There  is 
danger  lest  the  educated  man  should  love  .too  much 
the  quiet  and  ease  of  the  scholar  and  should  hold  him 
self  aloof  from  practical  affairs,  withdrawing  as  far 
as  may  be  from  public  life.  This  is  but  a  refined  sel 
fishness,  and  he  who  so  lives  is  repaying  but  poorly 
his  debt  to  the  community.  I  know  there  is  much  to 
grate  upon  his  finer  sensitiveness.  The  appeals  to 
the  lower  passions  of  the  masses,  the  personalities  and 


Francis  P.  Venable  93 

bitterness,  all  jar  upon  him,  and  often  the  methods 
of  machine  politics  shock  him,  but  what  hope  is  there 
of  change  or  betterment  if  all  men  of  his  type  hold 
aloof?  Shut  in  his  study,  out  of  contact  with  busy, 
jostling,  intensely  living  men,  and  out  of  sympathy 
with  them,  he  becomes  a  doctrinaire,  weaving  imprac 
ticable,  fine-spun  theories,  of  little  or  no  value  in  this 
practical  every-day  world.  Such  men  have  their  uses, 
of  course,  but  they  have  done  much  to  discredit  higher 
education  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  and  to  make  the 
community  pause  and  consider  whether  it  was  not 
costing  too  dear  to  educate  men  of  their  kind.  They 
have  given  ground  for  the  oft-repeated  accusation 
that  education  unfits  a  man  for  active,  practical  life. 
I  would  not  have  the  patriotism  of  the  educated 
man  the  grudging  kind  which  springs  solely  from  a 
sense  of  obligation,  but  the  willing  kind  which  springs 
from  gratitude  and  leads  to  a  loving  service.  It 
should  begin  at  home,  in  local  affairs,  the  develop 
ment  of  our  own  neighborhood  or  little  community, 
the  leadership  in  all  that  makes  life  fuller  for  those 
around  us,  and  the  sweet  and  wholesome  influence 
will  be  diffused  in  ever  widening  circles.  And  re 
member  that  mere  criticism  and  fault-finding  are  sel 
dom  productive  of  good.  The  critical,  rather  than 
the  helpful,  attitude  is  often  taken  by  the  educated 
man.  Of  course  he  can  see  farther,  and  hence  criti 
cism  is  easier  for  him,  but  he  loses  his  patience  and 
toleration  for  the  opinions  of  others.  In  the  past 
half  decade  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  criticism 
and  even  virulent  abuse  of  our  country  coming  very 
largely  from  college-bred  men.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  truly  wise  and  loyal  part  is  to  offer  such  advice 
and  suggestions  as  may  seem  best  to  you,  and,  if  re 
jected,  to  do  your  utmost  in  support  of  those  upon 
whom  the  burden  and  responsibility  of  action  falls, 
even  though  they  think  differently  from  you.  What 


94  Oratory  of  the  South 

avails  it  to  sit  on  the  broken  shards  of  your  cherished 
plans  and  croak  out  the  pending  ruin  of  your  coun 
try? 

I  tell  you  we  have  a  country  to  be  proud  of,  even 
if  it  is  not  always  directed  as  you  or  I  would  have  it ; 
and  that  quiet  scene  a  few  months  ago,  unheralded 
by  pomp,  or  boast,  or  braggart  show,  when  our  flag 
was  hauled  down  and  the  flag  of  a  free  Cuba  unfurled 
over  a  people  freed  by  our  treasure  and  our  blood, 
thrilled  every  fiber  of  my  being,  for  in  all  history  I 
know  of  no  such  glorious  act  done  with  such  a  grand 
simplicity.  And  can  you  not  trust  such  a  country  that 
it  will  treat  with  equal  justice  and  unselfish  kindness 
other  people  who  have  come  within  its  power  to 
bless? 

There  are  grave  problems  confronting  our  nation 
to-day — dangers  that  threaten  the  integrity  of  our 
institutions  and  the  very  existence  of  the  Republic. 
Among  these  are  proper  assimilation  and  absorption 
of  the  vast  influx  of  foreign  races  who  seek  our  shores 
as  a  refuge  from  distress  and  oppression.  Another  is 
the  conflict  between  labor  and  capital,  both  sides  now 
gathering  strength  and  forces  for  a  titanic  struggle. 
And  yet  another  is  the  burden  of  an  alien,  inferior 
race,  dependent  and  yet  free,  and  yearly  growing  in 
numbers  and  in  insistency  that  their  problem  be 
solved.  What  need  to  mention  others?  It  is  enough 
to  show  that  there  is  an  urgent  call  for  men  trained  to 
think  out  great  problems  and  knowing  truth  and  lov 
ing  justice  and  mercy,  who  shall  help  our  people  to 
solve  these  problems  and  lead  them  safely  past  these 
dangers. 

Oh,  you  who  come  from  the  schools,  teach  the 
people  that  there  is  no  liberty  without  knowledge! 
The  Master  has  said,  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and 
the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  Teach  them  to  know 
and  love  the  truth  and  scorn  all  lies.  Teach  them 


Charles  D.  Mclver  95 

that  the  highest  liberty  comes  from  a  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  life  and  obedience  to  them.  Lead  them 
in  a  liberty  which  is  not  license  and  a  freedom  which 
begets  no  wrong. 


THE   EDUCATION   OF  WOMEN 

CHARLES  D.  M'lVER 

For  some  time  President  of  the  North  Carolina  State  Nor 
mal  College  for  Women,  at  Greensboro,  N.  C. 

[Extract  from  an  address  at  the  fourth  annual  Conference 
for  Education  in  the  South,  at  Winston-Salem,  N.  C.,  April, 
1901.] 

The  supreme  question  in  civilization  is  education. 
From  the  standpoint  of  communities,  states,  and  na 
tions,  education  is  an  effort  to  preserve  and  transmit 
to  posterity  the  best  that  we  can  see,  and  know,  and 
be,  and  do.  Sometimes  we  think  it  is  a  pity  that  a 
good  man  who  has  learned  to  be  of  service  to  his 
fellows  should  be  called  out  of  the  world.  So  some 
times  we  may  think  about  an  enterprising  and  useful 
generation;  but,  after  all,  the  generations  of  men 
are  but  relays  in  civilization's  march  on  its  journey 
from  savagery  to  the  millennium.  Each  generation 
owes  it  to  the  past  and  to  the  future  that  no  previous 
worthy  attainment  or  achievement,  whether  of 
thought  or  deed  or  vision,  shall  be  lost.  It  is  also 
under  the  highest  obligation  to  make  at  least  as  much 
progress  on  the  march  as  has  been  made  by  any  gen 
eration  that  has  gone  before.  Education  is  simply 
civilization's  effort  to  propagate  and  perpetuate  its 
life  and  its  progress. 

The  demand  for  universal  education  does  not 
imply,  as  some  seem  to  think,  that  all  people  are  to 
be  educated  alike,  or  that  education  will  make  all 


96  Oratory  of  the  South 

equally  intelligent  or  cultured  or  skilled.  It  does 
mean,  however,  that  there  is  not  a  human  being  who 
ought  not  to  have  a  fair  chance  in  the  period  of  child 
hood  and  youth  to  learn  to  read  easily  and  with  some 
understanding  and  appreciation  the  thought  of  the 
world  as  contained  in  its  standard  and  current  litera 
ture.  It  means  that  every  child  should  have  an  op 
portunity,  but  a  few  years  at  least,  to  come  in  daily 
contact  with  a  teacher  of  character,  ambition,  and 
power.  It  means  that  every  youth  should  have  an 
opportunity  to  measure  his  mental  powers  in  com 
parison  with  the  mental  powers  of  his  fellows,  and 
that  he  should  thus  be  aided  in  discovering  the  work 
for  which  he  is  best  fitted,  and  then  that  he  should 
have  special  training  for  that  work. 

Education  is  expensive,  but  the  need  of  this  hour 
is  a  number  of  educational  evangelists  with  sufficient 
courage,  eloquence,  logic,  and  power  to  convirfce  the 
people  of  the  profound  truth  that  ignorance  and  il 
literacy  cost  more  than  education. 

It  is  very  difficult  for  a  rural  people  to  discard  the 
primitive  notion  that  land  is  the  only  real  estate. 
They  are  slow  to  see  that  in  a  civilized  country  the 
value  of  land  and  land  products  is  not  so  great  as 
the  value  of  mind  and  mind  products — that  brain  is 
better  property  than  land  and  that  ideas  and  inven 
tions  multiply  a  thousandfold  the  natural  products  of 
the  earth.  Ideas  are  worth  more  than  acres,  and  the 
possessors  of  ideas  will  always  hold  in  financial  bond 
age  those  whose  chief  possession  is  acres  of  land. 

Money  invested  in  the  education  of  a  man  is  a  good 
investment,  but  the  dividend  which  it  yields  is  fre 
quently  confined  to  one  generation  and  is  of  the  ma 
terial  kind.  It  strengthens  his  judgment,  gives  him 
foresight,  teaches  him  to  be  orderly  and  law-abiding, 
and  makes  him  a  more  productive  laborer  in  any  field 
of  activity.  It  does  the  same  thing  for  a  woman,  but 


Charles  D.  Mclver  97 

her  field  of  activity  is  usually  in  company  with  the 
children,  and,  therefore,  the  money  invested  in  the 
education  of  women  yields  a  better  educational  divi 
dend  than  that  invested  in  the  education  of  men.  It 
is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  state  and  society,  for  the 
sake  of  their  present  and  future  educational  interest, 
ought  to  decree  that  for  every  dollar  spent  by  the 
government,  State  or  Federal,  and  by  philanthropists 
in  the  training  of  men,  at  least  another  dollar  shall  be 
invested  in  the  work  of  educating  womankind. 

If  it  be  claimed  that  woman  is  weaker  than  man, 
then  so  much  the  more  reason  for  giving  her  at  least 
an  equal  educational  opportunity  with  him.  If  it  be 
admitted,  as  it  must  be,  that  she  is  by  nature  the  chief 
educator  of  children,  her  proper  training  is  the 
strategic  point  in  the  education  of  the  race.  If  equal 
ity  in  culture  be  desirable,  and  if  congeniality  between 
husbands  and  wives  after  middle  life  be  important, 
then  a  woman  should  have  more  educational  oppor 
tunities  in  youth  than  a  man;  for  a  man's  business 
relations  bring  him  in  contact  with  every  element  of 
society,  and,  if  he  have  fair  native  intelligence,  he  will 
continue  to  grow  intellectually  during  the  active  pe 
riod  of  his  life,  whereas  the  confinements  of  home 
and  the  duties  of  motherhood  allow  little  opportunity 
to  a  woman  for  any  culture  except  that  which  comes 
from  the  association  with  little  children.  This  ex 
perience  of  living  with  innocent  children  is  a  source 
of  culture  by  no  means  to  be  despised,  but  how  much 
better  would  it  be  for  the  mother  and  the  father  and 
the  children,  if  the  mother's  education  in  her  youth 
could  always  be  such  as  would  enable  her  in  after  life 
to  secure  for  herself  and  her  children  that  inspiration 
and  solace  which  come  from  familiarity  with  the 
great  books  of  the  world. 


98  Oratory  of  the  South 

THE  CULTURE  AFFORDED  BY  SCIEN 
TIFIC  TRAINING 

HENRY  LOUIS  SMITH 
President  of  Davidson   (N.  C.)   College 

[Concluding  portion  of  an  Alumni  oration  delivered  at 
the  University  of  Virginia  Commencement,  1905.] 

Scientific  training  imparts  to  the  mind  accuracy, 
logical  habits,  and  freedom.  But  there  is  another 
and  greater  benefit  which  is  hard  to  name  or  define. 
For  lack  of  a  better  word  I  will  call  it  inspiration. 

A  scholar  may  write  volumes  on  Greek  preposi 
tions,  or  English  synonyms,  or  Latin  syntax,  yet  never 
once  find  his  whole  being  thrilled  with  a  sense  of 
sublimity;  never  once  see  before  him  the  blaze  of 
insufferable  glory,  and  hear  the  Voice  saying:  "Put 
off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon 
thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  These  visions  come 
not  in  the  library,  but  on  Mount  Horeb,  where  the 
soul  is  alone  with  nature  and  its  God. 

In  the  study  of  the  material  universe  we  learn 
something  of  the  vastness  of  time  and  space.  We  are 
lifted  above  the  littleness  and  inevitable  debasement 
of  our  petty  human  lives  by  the  grandeur  of  nature, 
her  eternal  calm  and  infinite  patience,  and  the  wide 
sweep  of  her  changeless  laws.  Here  there  is  no  sordid 
greed  nor  selfish  striving,  no  neighborhood  slanders, 
nor  malice  cloaked  in  honeyed  words,  no  silly  social 
fads,  no  yellow  journals  nor  howling  mobs,  no  filth 
and  mire  of  "practical  politics."  How  base  and 
mean  and  unworthy  do  these  things  appear,  how  the 
din  and  clamor  of  our  noisy  world  die  into  reverent 
silence  when  brought  face  to  face  with  the  hoary 
antiquities  of  nature  and  her  infinities  of  time  and 
space ! 

But  again.     The  material  universe  is  the  concrete 


Henry  Louis  Smith  99 

thought  of  God.  In  its  study  we  become  His  interpre 
ters  and  think  His  thoughts  after  Him.  To  the  un 
trained  and  unreflecting  our  earth  is  but  a  vast  mon 
otony  of  rocks  and  soil,  of  grass  and  trees.  Its  moun 
tains  are  but  piles  of  earth  and  stone,  its  river  valleys 
but  unmeaning  furrows.  Its  thousand  variations  of 
topography  have  no  past  history  nor  present  signifi 
cance;  its  myriad  voices  are  but  a  Babel  of  unmean 
ing  noises.  Let  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  and  secret 
processes  of  nature  open  the  eyes  of  the  mind,  and 
the  very  sight  of  our  battle-scarred  earth  is  an  in 
spiration.  To  the  scientist  alone  do  earth  and  air 
and  water  reveal  the  secret  springs  of  their  multiplied 
activities.  Nature  hails  him  as  her  interpreter;  to 
his  attentive  ear  her  thousand  voices  become  articu 
late  and  intelligible.  Every  cliff  and  valley,  every 
mountain  plateau  and  waste  of  level  sand,  every  sea- 
beach  and  river  canon,  is  pregnant  with  meaning  and 
bears  testimony  to  a  wondrous  history.  He  looks 
back  through  an  immemorial  past  and  watches  the 
implacable  struggle  of  fire  and  water  for  the  posses 
sion  of  a  new  world. 

He  realizes  the  majesty  of  the  Creator's  power, 
as  His  hand  shapes  our  planet  in  the  depths  of  space, 
and  with  fire  and  flood,  tidal  wave  and  ice  sheet,  vol 
canic  outburst  and  peaceful  coral  growth,  prepares 
it  for  the  abode  of  man.  He  catches  glimpses  of 
God's  wisdom  and  His  love  as  he  watches  the  atmos 
phere  slowly  purified  for  man's  breathing,  the  har 
bors  dug  out  for  his  ships,  the  great  plains  fertilized 
for  his  crops,  the  coal  and  iron  stored  underground 
for  his  use,  and  the  round  world  crowded  with  evi 
dences  of  a  Father's  loving  foresight.  He  traces  the 
wondrous  procession  of  strange  plants  and  uncouth 
animals  that  peopled  the  forming  earth — the  mon 
sters  of  the  ooze  and  slime — fattening  on  the  luxuri 
ance  of  the  young  planet.  He  sees  the  continents 


100  Oratory  of  the  South 

forming  one  by  one,  the  mountain  ranges  slowly  lift 
ing  their  rocky  summits  toward  the  clouds,  the  oceans 
sullenly  retreating  to  their  foreordained  limits.  It 
is  when  we  thus  follow  in  the  awful  steps  of  the  Cre 
ator,  when  the  mind  vibrates  with  the  thunder  of  his 
power,  and  we  draw  back  with  throbbing  heart  and 
reverent  hand  the  curtain  of  His  omniscience,  that  we 
rise  above  the  miasmatic  level  of  a  petty  world  and 
breathe  air  fresh  from  the  hills  of  God. 

Would  you  realize  the  truth  of  what  we  carelessly 
repeat  so  often,  concerning  the  minute  care  and 
watchful  oversight  of  the  Infinite  Mind,  that  the 
hairs  of  our  head  are  all  numbered?  Then  penetrate 
with  the  microscope  into  the  world  of  the  invisibly 
little. 

The  feathers  of  the  tiniest  insect  are  fashioned 
as  carefully  as  the  wings  of  a  condor.  A  single  drop 
of  stagnant  water  swarms  with  countless  thousands 
of  animalculae,  yet  to  each  of  these  he  giveth  its  meat 
in  due  season  as  certainly  and  carefully  as  to  the 
young  lions  that  roar  and  suffer  hunger.  Here  you 
learn,  what  most  people  never  dream,  that  with  God 
there  is  no  great  nor  small,  no  distinction  between  im 
portant  and  unimportant.  The  life  of  an  animalcule 
is  as  carefully  adjusted  to  its  environment,  and  as 
minutely  guided  and  controlled,  as  the  growth  and 
decay  of  a  world. 

Let  me  cite  one  other  instance  of  this  illumination 
and  uplifting  due  to  scientific  culture.  The  untu 
tored  rustic  reads  in  his  Bible,  "The  heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God,"  and  on  his  way  home  at  night 
from  the  fields,  as  he  admires  the  star-spangled  sky 
over  his  head,  thinks  he  understands  its  meaning. 
So  the  wren,  flitting  back  and  forth  between  his 
woodpile  and  fence  corner,  admires  the  grass  and 
daisies,  and  might,  in  bird  language,  talk  enthusiasti 
cally  of  the  beauties  of  nature.  What  can  he  know 


Henry  Louis  Smith  101 


or  dream  of  the  panorama  unrolled  bene'afK  the  eagle; 
soaring  in  the  depths  of  blue  over  his  head? 

Would  you  realize  something  of  the  Psalmist's 
words?  Then  take  the  wings  of  light  and  travel 
among  the  hundred  million  flaming  suns  that  people 
the  depths  of  space.  Watch  them  all,  forming  neb 
ula,  flaming  sun,  huge  comet  and  tiny  asteroid,  planet 
crammed  with  life  and  satellite  dead  and  withered, 
a  vast  company  of  revolving  worlds,  sweeping  in  aw 
ful  silence  along  their  appointed  orbits,  till  the  im 
agination  faints  under  its  load,  and  the  mind  aches 
with  insufferable  sublimity.  What  perfection  of 
order,  what  marvel  of  harmony,  what  majesty  of 
power,  what  eloquence  of  grandeur!  Now,  with  the 
intellect  overwhelmed  by  the  Infinite,  with  heart  suf 
fused  and  trembling  with  awe  and  adoration,  turn 
from  the  God  revealed  in  nature  to  His  written  mes 
sage,  and  tell  me  if  you  find  no  deeper  meaning  in 
those  words  of  old:  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork." 

Such  are  some  of  the  fruits  of  scientific  study, 
such  are  the  visions  vouchsafed  by  science  to  the  rev 
erent  minds  that  enter  her  mystic  portals;  and  be 
lieve  me,  young  gentlemen,  it  is  worth  a  great  deal 
in  this  little  life  of  ours  to  catch  ever  and  anon,  above 
its  petty  clamorous  noises,  the  voice  of  the  Infinite 
and  Eternal,  calling  to  our  souls  from  the  depths  of 
Time  and  Space,  and  on  the  dusty,  contracted  by-path 
of  our  daily  lives  "to  feel  the  jar  of  unseen  waves, 
and  hear  the  thunder  of  an  unknown  sea  breaking 
along  an  unimagined  shore." 


102  Oratory  of  the  South 

t     vC'C    C  *•         ^        ""      \- 

O  -  'THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA 


WILLIAM  R.  ABBOTT 
Principal  of  the  Bellevue  (Fa.)  High  School 

[Extract  from  an  oration  delivered  before  the  Alumni 
Society  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  June  16,  1897.] 

The  great  paradox  in  education  was  to  Thomas 
Jefferson  no  paradox — that  if  you  would  raise  the 
level  of  the  education  of  a  people  you  must  begin  by 
improving  the  higher  education ;  that,  as  in  the  world 
of  matter  it  is  only  by  the  bending  down  of  some  liv 
ing  form  into  the  inorganic  sphere  that  the  dead 
atoms  there  can  be  gifted  with  the  properties  of 
vitality,  so  in  the  world  of  mind  light  and  life  come 
from  above.  "All  civilization  has  begun  with  the 
higher  education  of  a  few,  and  all  forms  of  popular 
culture  have  proceeded  from  higher  sources.  In  the 
development  of  popular  education,  as  of  popular  gov 
ernment,  there  have  always  been  recognized  leaders. 
Neither  science  nor  religion  could  have  gone  forth  in 
fertilizing  streams  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  unless 
there  had  been  mountain  sources  above  the  plain ;  and 
the  history  of  education  is  one  long  stream  of  con 
tinuous,  inexhaustible  flow  from  such  high  springs." 

Never  and  nowhere  have  these  truths  found  more 
signal  illustration  than  in  the  history  of  our  Univer 
sity.  No  sooner  was  its  organization  complete,  no 
sooner  was  its  machinery  set  in  motion,  and  the  fin 
ished  product  began  to  be  turned  out,  than  a  veritable 
renaissance  followed  in  the  education  of  the  State. 
Colleges  and  schools,  high  and  low,  felt  the  vitalizing 
influence.  Into  old  establishments  fresh  life  was  in 
fused;  new  schools  were  founded  with  standards  of 
attainment  hitherto  undreamt  of;  greater  and  greater 
from  year  to  year  was  the  demand  for  her  graduates 
to  fill  the  chairs  in  colleges  in  this  and  all  the  South- 


William  R.  Abbott  ,  103 

ern  States;  larger  and  larger  was  the  proportion  of 
her  most  distinguished  sons  that  found  their  vocation 
in  the  profession  of  teaching;  until  at  the  outbreak 
of  that  war  which  convulsed  our  political,  social,  and 
educational  systems,  there  was  no  State  in  the  Union 
in  which  there  was  as  large  a  proportion  of  youth 
seeking  the  higher  learning,  and  certainly  none  in 
which  the  calling  of  the  teacher  was  held  as  high  in 
the  respect  and  honor  of  the  community.  And  even 
now,  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  numbers,  her 
alumni  fill  her  own  chairs  and  man  the  colleges  and 
schools  of  Virginia  and  all  the  States  of  the  South 
and  West;  she  is  the  recognized  source  of  supply  of 
the  exponents  of  the  advanced  standards  of  modern 
education,  and  her  beneficent  influence  is  felt  in  the 
public  schools  of  every  village  and  hamlet  of  the 
Commonwealth.  So  that,  ignoring  for  the  time  all 
her  other  manifold  blessings  to  the  State  and  to 
society,  I  dare  affirm  that  in  this  single  respect — her 
inestimable  service  to  uthe  holy  cause  of  education" — 
she  is  entitled  to  our  reverence  and  admiration  and 
gratitude,  and  has  in  measure  a  hundred-fold  repaid 
the  debt  for  all  that  has  ever  been  expended  in  her 
foundation  and  maintenance. 

May  I  express  the  hope  that  the  spirit  of  this  meet 
ing,  this  renewed  communion  with  the  genius  of  the 
spot  so  hallowed  in  our  memories  with  all  the  in 
spiring  associations  clinging  to  it,  may  revive  our  in 
terest,  quicken  our  activity,  and  commit  us  as  by  a 
public  sacrament  to  bring  to  her  present  exigency  our 
best  services,  collectively  and  as  individuals,  each  in 
his  own  sphere  aiding  by  influence  and  active  effort, 
so  to  multiply  the  school,  increase  the  libraries  and 
develop  the  means  of  education  here  planted,  that  as 
long  as  the  circling  seasons  endure  the  golden  quiver 
of  our  Alma  Mater  may  be  full  of  arrows  to  track 
their  rolling  years  with  light. 


104  Oratory  of  the  South 

On  yonder  mountain  sleeps  the  dust  of  the  great 
apostle  of  human  liberty,  the  mighty  champion  of 
popular  education,  the  "Father  of  the  University  of 
Virginia";  but  here  breathes  his  living  spirit,  here 
survive  in  imperishable  forms  his  comprehensive 
views,  his  elegant  tastes,  his  expansive  sympathies. 
His  very  fame  overshadows  these  walls,  as  their  tute 
lary  genius.  I  would  invoke  the  mute  eloquence  of 
that  immortal  presence  to  plead  with  us  the  cause  of 
letters,  bound  up  for  us  in  the  fortunes  of  this  Uni 
versity.  May  the  aspiration  ascend  from  every  heart, 
that  as  long  as  the  heights  of  Monticello  shall  lift 
themselves  to  heaven,  so  long  may  the  domes  and 
spires  of  this  University  rise  up  in  all  the  majesty  of 
proportion  to  greet  the  morning  sun ;  so  long  may  the 
ingenuous  youth  of  the  land  we  love  repair  hither  in 
ever-increasing  number  to  drink  deep  of  her  living 
fountains,  to  kindle  the  fires  of  patriotism  at  her  al 
tars,  to  udraw  light  in  their  golden  urns"  from  her 
central  sun,  to  take  from  her  rich  arsenal  the  celestial 
weapons,  and  to  learn  from  her  wise  lips  the  "magic 
runes"  which  will  make  them  in  after-life  the  in 
vincible  champions  of  truth,  freedom,  and  righteous 
ness. 


NEW  ENGLAND  AND  THE  SOUTH 

EDWIN  A.  ALDERMAN 
President  of  the  University  of  Virginia 

[Extract  from  a  speech  in  response  to  the  toast,  "Sectional 
ism  and  Nationality,"  delivered  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the 
New  England  Society,  New  York  City,  December  22, 
1906.] 

A  goodly  library  has  been  written  in  an  effort  to 
account  for  the  antagonisms  of  New  England  and  the 
South  on  the  basis  of  difference  between  the  Puritan 


EdAvin  A.  Alderman  105 

and  the  Cavalier,  as  those  names  have  been  used  to 
define  two  types  of  Englishmen.  The  matter  will 
never  be  settled  on  this  basis.  It  is  true  that  English 
Puritans  practically  founded  and  settled  the  charac 
ter  of  New  England.  It  would  be  a  dull  and  a  sense 
less  mind  that  did  not  realize  the  majestic  significance 
of  the  coming  of  the  Puritan  to  this  continent,  who 
did  not  understand  in  what  a  revolutionary  fire  was 
wrought  the  temper  of  his  soul  in  the  old  home  land ; 
who  did  not  feel  gratitude  for  the  sheer  strength  of 
moral  imagination,  the  exact  idealism,  the  genius  of 
intelligent  thrift  and  passionate  instinct  for  order, 
which  he  poured  into  the  making  of  this  Republic. 

I  can  understand  the  enthusiasm  of  a  son  of  New 
England  for  the  gentle  Pilgrims,  sailing  westward 
upon  that  epic  ship,  the  Mayflower,  or  for  those  stern 
Englishmen  who  later  came  to  this  shore,  professing 
an  iron  faith,  seeking  the  will  of  God,  bearing  with 
them  the  town  meeting,  the  public  school,  an  exalta 
tion  of  humanity,  an  appreciation  of  the  potential 
value  of  the  common  man,  and  a  superabundant  de 
termination  and  capacity  to  look  after  their  own  busi 
ness,  which  sometimes  overflowed  onto  the  domain  of 
the  business  of  others.  Institutions,  ideals,  and 
ideas  were  in  their  right  hand,  and  in  their  left,  will 
fulness  and  foresight  and  common  sense,  as  inflexible 
and  as  durable  as  granite. 

Some  eighteen  millions  of  this  indomitable  breed 
inhabit  the  American  continent  to-day,  after  three 
hundred  years  of  experience  and  achievement.  They 
have  come  pretty  close  to  enforcing  their  point  of 
view  in  things  political,  social,  and  economic  upon  the 
rest  of  this  nation.  They  have  lost  much  of  their  ho 
mogeneity  in  their  struggle  with  foreign  elements, 
but  they  have  reproduced  a  thousand  New  Englands 
on  the  rolling  plains  of  the  Northwest  and  the  far 
West.  They  have  outgrown  their  religious  notions 


106  Oratory  of  the  South 

so  often  that  I  do  not  just  know  where  they  are  "at" 
now  religiously.  Perhaps  that  point  is  best  expressed 
by  Mr.  Barrett  Wendell  in  his  declaration  that  in 
their  religious  growth  they  have  oscillated  from  a 
consideration  of  "what  the  devil  is"  to  a  consideration 
of  "what  the  devil  anything  is !" 

Englishmen  of  the  same  age  of  revolutionary  feel 
ing,  and  of  the  same  passion  for  principle,  settled  and 
gave  character  to  Tidewater  Virginia.  Men  call 
these  Englishmen  "Cavaliers."  They  had  their  re 
ligion,  though  it  was  primarily  adventure  and  con 
quest  rather  than  religion,  that  haled  them  over  the 
sea.  Following  afar  off,  they  even  took  a  hand  at 
persecuting  a  Quaker  or  two  now  and  then.  They 
were  just  as  ready  as  the  Puritans  to  fight  for  an 
ideal.  As  the  tide  flowed  westward,  many  of  them, 
too,  left  home  for  conscience'  sake.  They  knew  the 
same  sensation  of  devotion  to  a  cause,  and  they  had  a 
conception  of  political  liberty  just  as  clear,  and  per 
haps  an  even  greater  genius  for  political  debate  and 
philosophical  exposition.  I  can  understand  the  en 
thusiasm  of  a  Virginian  for  these  large-statured  men 
of  their  Tidewater  lands,  out  of  whom  came  our  su 
preme  national  hero,  and  a  Homeric  group  of  re 
sourceful  men,  without  whose  influence  it  would  be 
difficult  to  see  how  this  Republic  could  have  ever  been 
born.  It  is  endlessly  pleasant  to  a  Southerner  to  hark 
back  to  their  manly  simplicity,  their  activity,  their  dis 
interested  public  spirit,  their  continental  grasp,  and 
their  wholesome,  catholic  lovableness. 

Long  generations  afterward,  Robert  E.  Lee  flow 
ered  out  of  the  same  bud,  very  like  the  old  stock, 
only  gentler  and  more  able,  through  virtue  and  suf 
fering,  to  evoke  the  love  of  millions.  Two  such  men 
as  Washington  and  Lee  in  one  century  is  a  mighty 
tribute  to  the  character  of  the  Tidewater  stock. 

In  the  grip  of  great  economic  forces  these  two 


Edwin  A.  Alderman  107 

groups  of  Englishmen  thought  deeply  and  differently 
about  the  meaning  of  liberty.  Fate  driven,  they  came 
to  war,  the  New  Englander  fighting  for  the  liberty 
of  the  individual  wherever  seated  and  the  majesty  of 
the  idea  of  union;  the  Southerner  for  the  liberty 
of  local  self-government  and  the  right  of  English 
men  to  determine  their  affairs — which  was  the  orig 
inal  essence  of  the  American  idea  of  liberty.  No  war 
in  human  history  was  a  sincerer  conflict  than  the 
American  Civil  War.  It  was  not  a  war  of  conquest 
or  glory.  To  call  it  rebellion  is  to  speak  ignorantly. 
To  call  it  treason  is  to  add  viciousness  to  stupidity. 
It  was  a  war  of  ideals,  of  principles,  of  political  con 
ceptions,  of  loyalty  to  ancient  ideals  of  English  free 
dom  held  dearer  than  life  by  both  sides.  Neither 
abolitionist  nor  fire-eater  brought  on  this  war.  It 
was  a  "brothers'  war,"  which  ought  to  have  been 
avoided,  but  which  was  brought  on,  as  our  human 
nature  is  constituted,  by  the  operation  of  economic 
forces  and  the  clashing  of  inherited  feelings,  woven 
by  no  will  of  either  side  into  the  life  of  the  Republic. 
It  was  settled  at  last  by  neither  abolitionist  nor  fire- 
eater,  but  by  men  of  the  West  who  had  not  inherited 
unbroken  political  traditions,  but  simply  saw  the 
union  of  American  States  as  the  ark  of  their  salva 
tion  and  beheld  its  flag,  as  Webster  beheld  it,  "full 
high  advanced,  floating  over  land  and  sea." 

Some  great  facts  were  forever  settled  by  the  war, 
but  few  great  principles.  A  new  American  ideal  of 
nationality  was  set  up;  the  curse  of  slavery  was  re 
moved,  the  indestructibility  of  the  Union  was  estab 
lished,  and  a  great  debate  in  political  philosophy  was 
ended  with  a  blow.  The  value  to  liberty  of  the  idea 
of  local  self-government  still  remains,  as  before,  the 
deepest  and  most  vital  principle  in  our  national  life. 
The  doctrine  of  States'  rights  as  a  necessity  of  popu 
lar  government  is  again  engaging  the  thought  of 


108  Oratory  of  the  South 

this  Republic,  because  mightier  forces  than  war  are 
vitalizing  this  old  issue  under  new  forms,  and  those 
who  understand  it  best  and  love  it  dearest  and  who 
will  fight  for  it  longest  are  those  who  live  in  the 
States  where  devotion  to  it  once  had  power  to  sepa 
rate  them  from  a  country  they  had  fought  to  found. 
There  is  nothing  stranger  or  more  interesting  in  po 
litical  history  than  the  recurrence  of  this  best  loved 
dogma  of  the  South,  unconnected  with  secession  and 
unconfused  with  slavery,  as  necessary  to  Federal 
union  and  human  freedom.  If,  as  Mr.  Root  thinks, 
and  I  have  the  feeling  that  his  speech  is  to  be  thought 
of  as  a  prophecy  and  a  warning  rather  than  as  a  plea 
for  centralization,  the  struggle  is  on  between  the 
growing  power  of  the  Federal  Government  and  the 
decreasing  authority  of  the  States,  you  can  count  on 
the  Southerner  to  be  on  the  side  of  maintaining  the 
just  balance,  for  no  American  sees  more  clearly  than 
he  just  what  is  the  vital  spot  in  the  liberty  of  a  State. 
He  is  a  learner,  albeit  a  rapid  learner,  in  the  art  of 
using  the  machinery  of  local  self-government  to  en 
rich  and  beautify  a  State,  but  he  is  a  past  master  in 
the  matter  of  insight  into  the  very  core  of  democratic 
freedom. 

Our  present  democracy,  so  long  concerned  with 
interpretation  of  constitutions,  now  strikes  at  the 
very  nature  of  the  social  order.  No  democracy 
has  ever  been  tempted  like  this  one.  No  democ 
racy  has  ever  been  able  to  organize  its  forces  like 
this  one.  No  such  field  of  exploitation  has  ever 
opened  before  any  democracy,  and  never  before  has 
the  current  of  the  world's  genius  contributed  to  per 
fecting  machinery  for  such  vast  exploitation.  No  de 
mocracy  ever  dreamed  how  it  would  act  if  fabulous 
wealth,  ever  increasing  through  the  agency  of  co 
operation,  had  gone  to  its  head.  This  is  not  a  corrupt 
nation.  Its  currents  are  kindly  and  just  and  free  and 


Hugh  A.  Dinsmore  109 

idealistic  as  of  old.  Its  public  men  are  honest  and  its 
merchants  are  honest.  We  are  simply  facing  a  new 
question  in  human  liberty,  a  new  phase  of  the  ever- 
expanding  content  of  democracy — how  to  retain  in 
our  system  the  priceless  glory  of  individual  excellence 
and  individual  initiative,  which  is  our  deepest  national 
instinct,  and  how  to  control  in  the  interests  of  justice 
the  great  co-operative  forces  which  the  plans  of  this 
giant  age  demand. 

These  two  eldest  children  of  American  life  I  love 
to  believe  still  see  the  Republic  of  their  fathers 
as  a  beautiful  spiritual  adventure.  All  the  world's 
changes  or  noises  cannot  wipe  out  or  hush  their  old 
solemn  belief  in  its  mission  and  its  destiny  and  in  the 
hopes  that  mankind  has  built  about  it.  Who  can  be 
better  fitted,  then,  to  bring  to  it,  in  the  perils  that 
await  all  growing  states,  the  best  measure  of  their 
tempered  strength,  each  according  to  its  several  abili 
ties — New  England,  her  wealth  of  orderly  knowl 
edge,  her  patient  habits  of  study,  her  technical  power, 
her  moral  perception,  her  ability  to  translate  democ 
racy  into  form  of  efficiency;  the  South,  conservative 
and  proud  and  honest,  her  best  spiritual  contribution 
to  American  life,  the  purity  of  her  thought  about 
government,  the  unselfish  attitude  of  her  service  to 
the  State,  her  pride  of  region  and  her  love  of  home. 


THE  SOUTH  AND  THE  CONSTITUTION 

HUGH  A.  DINSMORE 
Congressman  from  Arkansas 

[Extract  from  a  speech  on  "Federal  Election  Laws,"  de 
livered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  October  2,   1893.] 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  wish  to  say  in  behalf  of  my  native 
State  of  Arkansas  that  no  State  in  this  Union  has  a 


110  Oratory  of  the  South 

people  more  devoted  to  our  beloved  country,  its  flag, 
and  its  institutions  than  hers.  And  though  they  have 
drunk  the  cruel  cup  of  war  to  its  bitter  dregs ;  though 
they  can  never  forget  the  pitiful  pictures  of  ruin  and 
desolation  left  by  fire  and  sword  in  their  once  beauti 
ful  land,  peaceful,  prosperous,  and  happy,  there  is  no 
people  in  this  broad  land,  in  whatever  State  or  sec 
tion,  that  would  be  sooner  or  more  cheerfully  afield 
at  the  bugle  call  to  defend  the  honor  of  the  flag  or  the 
liberty  of  the  people. 

I  wish  that  gentlemen  upon  that  side  and  upon  this 
could  have  been  present  and  witnessed  the  condition 
of  our  country  at  the  end  of  that  most  unhappy  pe 
riod.  Our  citizens  of  this  day  were  in  large  measure 
the  soldiers  of  the  fortune  of  the  lost  cause ;  and  what 
matters  it  now  whether  they  were  right  or  wrong? 
They  fought  for  their  convictions  of  right,  and  every 
true-hearted  soldier  of  the  victorious  side  will  con 
cede  to  them  this  justice.  At  this  day  has  there  not 
been  time  for  passion  to  subside;  has  there  not  been 
time  for  all  the  feeling  of  hate  and  enmity  to  have 
passed  away? 

The  close  of  the  war  came.  The  Confederate  sol 
dier  had  staked  his  all  upon  the  cast  of  the  die,  and  it 
went  down  in  the  dust  with  the  flag  he  had  followed 
in  battle.  While  the  victorious  troops  of  the  Union 
were  returning  to  their  homes  untouched  by  war,  to 
the  merry  strains  of  victorious  music  and  with  ban 
ners  gayly  flying,  he,  in  his  deep  humiliation — con 
quered,  but  not  his  spirit  gone — inspired  alone  by  his 
faith  in  God  and  his  own  manhood  and  love  for 
his  family,  returned  to  the  country  that  had  been  his 
home;  the  country  that  he  had  left  smiling  with 
golden  harvests  and  adorned  by  beautiful  home 
steads,  surrounded  by  happiness  and  prosperity.  But 
when  with  faltering  steps,  broken  in  fortune  and  in 
health,  he  came  back,  the  besom  of  war  had  swept 


Hugh  A.  Dinsmore  111 

all  in  its  relentless  track,  and  there  was  but  little 
left  of  that  which  had  been  to  him  so  dear  in 
the  past. 

The  fields  that  had  been  white  with  the  fleecy  fiber 
that  clothes  the  world,  that  had  been  yellow  with  the 
waving  corn  in  the  golden  harvest  time,  were  grown 
up  with  the  unrestrained  forests  of  nature;  and  the 
home  around  which  his  heart  had  clung  throughout 
all  these  hard  years,  that  gone,  too ;  the  old  roof-tree 
about  which  hung  every  dear  association  of  child 
hood,  youth,  and  young  manhood  melted  by  the 
flames  of  hungry  war;  only  a  black,  crumbling  chim 
ney  stood  as  a  melancholy  headstone  at  the  grave  of 
dead  hopes,  of  buried  ambition. 

Did  they  falter?  Did  they  give  up?  On  the  con 
trary,  they  turned  themselves  with  new  purpose  to 
build  up  a  new  citizenship  under  a  new  condition  of 
things.  I  need  not  speak  of  what  they  have  accom 
plished.  Every  year  from  their  fields  come  the  teem 
ing  fruits  of  harvest  that  clothe  and  feed  the  millions 
of  the  world.  Every  year  they  pour  into  the  coffers 
of  the  Treasury  taxes  to  support  and  add  to  the 
glory  of  this  Government  which  we  all  respect  and 
love.  Without  a  pension,  asking  none,  expecting 
none,  feeling  that  none  is  due,  each  year  these  old 
Confederates  contribute  to  the  fund  that  goes  to  pay 
the  pensions  of  the  honorable  Union  soldier  who 
fought  for  the  flag  and  saved  the  Union.  Are  they 
worthy  of  citizenship?  Unmurmuring  and  uncom 
plaining,  they  perform  its  every  duty,  and  all  they 
ask  is  that  they  have  equal  recognition  with  the  rest 
of  the  citizens  of  this  Government  and  have  ^  their 
rights  respected.  Gentlemen,  of  such,  and  their  de 
scendants,  are  in  large  part  the  constituents  I  repre 
sent.  Are  you  willing  to  honor  and  to  trust  them  as 
your  fellow-citizens?  Whatever  may  be  your  answer, 
be  assured  of  this:  I  am  prouder  to  stand  here  as 


112  Oratory  of  the  South 

their  chosen  servant  than  I  would  be  to  be  the  leader 
of  a  conquering  host. 

But  how  long,  I  say,  must  the  people  of  this  Union 
be  kept  under  the  operation  of  war  measures?  To 
raise  the  revenues  necessary  to  prosecute  the  war  in 
suppression  of  rebellion,  and  never  upon  any  pretense 
of  protection,  a  high  tariff  was  imposed  upon  foreign 
imports,  which,  the  war  over,  it  has  taxed  even 
Republican  recklessness  and  prodigality  to  devise 
plausible  means  to  dispose  of  to  the  people  hungering 
for  paternal  support. 

The  beneficent  pension  system  has  been  abused  and 
extended  until  the  names  that  once  made  it  a  roll 
of  honor  are  becoming  obscured  and  confounded 
in  a  confused  list  of  camp-followers,  beach-combers, 
bounty-jumpers,  and  imposters. 

The  present  statute  authorizing  Federal  interfer 
ence  in  elections  in  the  States,  and  which  it  is  our  pres 
ent  duty  to  repeal  (and  the  duty  shall  be  well  and 
fully  performed),  has  not  been  thought  to  be  suffi 
cient  to  answer  the  demands  of  Government  under 
Republican  views.  Led  on  by  a  partisan  President, 
swayed  and  biased  by  sectional  bitterness,  the  Repub 
lican  party  in  the  Fifty-first  Congress  enacted  a  scene 
in  the  political  drama  which  will  be  long  remembered 
by  the  people  of  this  country.  How  they  struggled, 
with  what  unyielding  purpose  and  nervous  energy 
they  strove  to  enact  the  force  bill,  a  law  ten-fold  more 
nefarious  and  disastrous  to  free  elections  than  the  one 
we  are  about  to  repeal !  But  they  failed ;  their  efforts 
proved  abortive.  Thank  God  for  the  few  patriotic 
Republicans  in  the  other  wing  of  the  Capitol,  who, 
defying  the  party  whip,  gave  their  assistance  to  save 
the  people  at  the  polls  from  the  otherwise  inevitable 
fate  of  Federal  bayonets. 

It  has  always  appeared  to  me,  Mr.  Speaker,  put 
ting  aside  all  consideration  of  the  Constitution  itself 


Hugh  A.  Dinsmore  113 

and  the  peculiar  wisdom  which  characterizes  its  pro 
visions,  and  looking  only  to  the  source  from  which  it 
emanated,  that  the  great  and  patriotic  men  of  wisdom 
who  created  it,  in  the  evolution  of  their  thought  and 
discussion,  stimulated  by  high  and  noble  aims,  being 
moved  by  a  sacred  desire  and  determination  to  lay  the 
foundation  stones  of  a  government  which  would  be 
the  freest  and  best  all  civilization  had  ever  known, 
and  one  which  they  hoped  would  live  in  perpetuity  to 
bless  its  citizens  and  to  honor  the  men  who  inspired 
it,  were  better  prepared  to  know  what  was  best  calcu 
lated  to  promote  with  success  their  undertaking,  and 
to  give  permanency  and  health  and  vigor  and  justice 
to  that  Government,  than  any,  however  wise,  who 
were  to  follow  them  as  statesmen  having  in  charge 
the  interest  of  the  people  living  under  the  beneficence 
of  the  Government  which  they  had  formed. 

There  is  no  man  free  from  party  zeal.  It  is  impos 
sible  for  the  human  mind  to  free  itself  from  party 
bias.  Therefore  I  hold,  sir,  that  the  safety  and  wel 
fare  of  our  institutions  depend  largely  upon  adhering 
as  closely  as  may  be  to  the  principles  and  declarations 
of  our  organic  law.  And  when  we  come  to  consider 
the  instrument  itself,  we  are  more  impressed  with  the 
justice  and  wisdom  of  its  provisions  and  the  danger 
of  departing  from  it.  It  has  been  said,  sir,  upon  this 
floor,  more  in  the  spirit  of  reproach  than  of  commen 
dation,  that  Democrats  are  ever  ready  to  stand  up 
and  defend  the  Constitution;  that  Democratic  mem 
bers  are  alert  to  detect  in  any  proposed  measure  a 
conflict  with  constitutional  provisions;  that  they  are 
the  champions  of  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Speaker,  whatever  may  have  been  the  spirit 
with  which  these  things  were  said,  I  feel,  sir,  that  no 
higher  tribute  could  be  paid  to  the  party  of  which  I 
am  an  humble  member  than  to  say  they  are  true. 
We  do  honor  the  Constitution  of  our  country;  we 


114  Oratory  of  the  South 

venerate  it  as  a  great  and  beneficent  gift  handed  down 
to  us  from  men  consecrated  to  a  noble  and  humane 
purpose  and  undertaking — one  full  of  the  inestimable 
blessings  of  liberty;  and  that  which  inspires  in  me 
more  admiration  for  the  party  which  I  love  than 
aught  else  is  that  in  my  opinion  it  is  truer  than  any 
other  party  to  the  principles  laid  down  in  this  honored 
instrument,  which  is  the  organic  law  of  our  land,  and 
therefore  to  the  principles  of  freedom  most  condu 
cive  to  the  happiness  and  liberty  of  the  people. 

NO  COLONIES 

GEORGE  GRAHAM  VEST 

Late  United  States  Senator  from  Missouri 

[Extract  from  a  speech  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
December  12,  1898.] 

It  seems  to  me  peculiarly  appropriate  at  this  time 
to  examine  what  are  the  powers  of  Congress  in  re 
gard  to  the  acquisition  and  government  of  new  terri 
tory.  When  eminent  statesmen  ridicule  "the  swad 
dling  clothes"  made  by  Washington  and  Madison,  it 
is  surely  time  to  ask  whether  the  American  people  are 
ready  to  follow  these  apostles  of  the  New  Evangel 
in  revolutionizing  our  Government  and  trampling 
upon  the  teachings  and  policies  which  have  made  us 
great  and  prosperous. 

Every  schoolboy  knows,  or  ought  to  know,  that  the 
Revolutionary  War,  which  gave  us  existence  as  a 
people,  was  fought  for  four  years  exclusively  against 
the  colonial  system  of  Europe.  Our  fathers  did  not 
in  the  commencement  of  that  struggle  contemplate 
independence  from  the  mother  country.  When 
the  people  of  Rhode  Island  burned  the  British 
war  sloop  Gas-pee  in  Narragansett  Bay,  and  the 
people  of  Massachusetts  threw  overboard  the  cargo 


George  Graham  Vest  115 

of  tea  in  Boston  harbor,  they  acted  as  British  subjects, 
proclaiming  their  loyalty  to  the  Crown  of  England. 
When  Thomas  Jefferson,  Patrick  Henry,  and  Rich 
ard  Henry  Lee  met  at  the  old  Raleigh  tavern  in 
Williamsburg,  Virginia,  and  indorsed  the  action  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts,  they  proclaimed 
themselves  English  subjects,  loyal  to  the  king,  and 
only  demanded  the  rights  that  were  given  to  them 
as  Englishmen  by  Magna  Charta  and  the  Bill  of 
Rights. 

What  is  the  colonial  system  against  which  our 
fathers  protested?  It  is  based  upon  the  fundamental 
idea  that  the  people  of  immense  areas  of  territory 
can  be  held  as  subjects,  never  to  become  citizens;  that 
they  must  pay  taxes  and  be  impoverished  by  govern 
mental  exaction  without  having  anything  to  do  with 
the  legislation  under  which  they  live.  Against  taxa 
tion  without  representation  our  fathers  fought  for  the 
first  four  years  of  the  Revolution,  struggling  against 
the  system  which  England  then  attempted  to  impose 
upon  them,  and  which  was  graphically  described  by 
Thomas  Jefferson  as  the  belief  that  nine-tenths  of 
mankind  were  born  bridled  and  saddled  and  the  other 
tenth  booted  and  spurred  to  ride  them.  When  war 
became  flagrant  and  battles  had  been  fought  and 
blood  had  been  shed,  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must  be  final  separa 
tion  from  the  British  throne.  Thomas  Jefferson  then 
penned  the  immortal  Declaration  upon  the  basic  idea 
that  all  governments  derive  their  just  powers  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  incredible  that  the  men  who 
fought  for  seven  long  years,  without  money,  without 
men  almost,  and  without  arms,  against  the  proudest 
and  strongest  nation  in  the  world,  resisting  the  doc 
trine  upon  which  the  colonial  system  of  Europe  is 
based,  should,  after  being  rescued  by  Providence 


116  Oratory  of  the  South 

from  its  thraldom,  deliberately  put  this  doctrine  in 
the  written  Constitution  framed  to  govern  them  and 
their  children. 

Sir,  we  are  told  that  this  country  can  do  anything, 
Constitution  or  no  Constitution.  We  are  a  great 
people — great  in  war,  great  in  peace — but  we  are 
not  greater  than  the  people  who  once  conquered  the 
world,  not  with  long-range  guns  and  steel-clad  ships, 
but  with  the  short  sword  of  the  Roman  legion  and 
the  wooden  galleys  that  sailed  across  the  Adriatic. 
The  colonial  system  destroyed  all  hope  of  republican 
ism  in  the  olden  time.  It  is  an  appanage  of  mon 
archy.  It  can  exist  in  no  free  country,  because  it  up 
roots  and  eliminates  the  basis  of  all  republican  insti 
tutions — that  governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

I  know  not  what  may  be  done  with  the  glamour  of 
foreign  conquest  and  the  greed  of  the  commercial  and 
money-making  classes  in  this  country.  For  myself,  I 
would  rather  quit  public  life,  and  would  be  willing  to 
risk  life  itself,  rather  than  give  my  consent  to  this  fan 
tastic  and  wicked  attempt  to  revolutionize  our  Gov 
ernment  and  substitute  the  principles  of  our  heredi 
tary  enemies  for  the  teachings  of  Washington  and  his 
associates. 


THE   STRENGTH   OF  THE   PEOPLE. 

GUY  CARLETON  LEE 

Lawyer,  lecturer,  and  publicist,  of  Baltimore,  Md. 
[Excerpt  from  a  lecture  delivered  upon  various  occasions.] 

There  is  a  public  opinion  which  demands  the  aboli 
tion  of  exclusive  franchises  and  special  privileges. 
There  is  a  public  opinion  that  demands,  that  insists, 
that  natural  monopolies  shall  be  for  the  benefit,  not 


Guy  Carleton  Lee  117 

of  a  class,  but  of  the  whole  people.  There  is  a  public 
opinion  that  calls  loudly  for  honest  and  straightfor 
ward  dealing  in  business  affairs. 

Do  not,  however,  confuse  public  opinion  with  pub 
lic  feeling.  Perhaps  the  difference  has  never  come 
home  to  you.  Public  feeling  is  the  clamor  of 
emotion,  the  plaint  of  sentimentality,  the  froth  of 
the  current — not  the  current  itself.  Public  opinion, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  the  public  mind  expressing  itself. 
It  is  intellectual  and  not  sentimental.  It  grows  out 
of  study,  knowledge,  experience.  Public  feeling 
weeps,  bawls,  sometimes  from  good  cause,  but  not 
always.  Public  opinion  demands  reform  and  is  pre 
pared  to  enforce  it.  Public  feeling,  however,  is  use 
ful;  for  example,  by  it  the  muck-rakers  have  been 
supported.  But  it  is  only  the  scream  of  the  whistle. 
Public  opinion  is  the  real  movement  of  the  engine  of 
popular  force.  The  difference  between  the  two  is 
the  difference  between  abuse  and  criticism,  between 
excited  talk  and  effective  action.  Public  feeling  is 
too  often  created  by  selfish  motives.  It  is  too  often 
the  result  of  personal  dislike  or  personal  favor.  If 
a  man's  ox  is  gored,  loud  does  he  cry  for  justice ;  but 
if  it  is  his  ox  that  does  the  goring,  you  do  not  hear 
his  voice.  Indeed,  the  words  of  the  reformer  are 
too  often  judged  to  be  right  or  wrong  according  to 
the  listener's  private  interests  in  the  matter.  The  in 
fluence  of  selfishness  upon  judgment  is  easily  shown 
by  a  bit  of  history.  A  man  and  his  wife  had  lived 
together — not  always  happily — for  a  long  time ;  now 
they  had  both  come  to  extreme  old  age,  and  the  old 
man  was  dying  in  one  room,  while  the  old  woman — 
sick  in  the  next  room — was  listening  to  the  making 
of  his  last  will  and  testament. 

"Now  tell  me  exactly  what  is  owing  you,"  the 
lawyer  said. 

"Timothy  Brown  owes  me  three  hundred  dollars," 


118  Oratory  of  the  South 

answered  the  old  man;  "Casey  owes  me  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five,  and " 

"Good!  good!"  exclaimed  the  prospective  widow; 
"rational  to  the  last!" 

"Luke  Brown  owes  me  eighty  dollars,"  continued 
the  old  man. 

"How  clear  his  mind  is,"  again  assented  the  wife. 

"To  Mike  Lafferty  I  owe  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  dollars." 

"Ah,"  interrupted  the  old  woman,  "hear  him 
rave!" 

"Hear  him  rave!"  But  public  opinion  cannot  ac 
complish  the  reform  of  existing  conditions  unless  the 
strength  of  the  people  puts  theory  into  practice  and 
makes  righteous  intention  substantial  result. 

What  is  this  strength  of  the  people  upon  which 
we  have  laid  such  stress?  To  me  it  has  always  been 
the  right  living  that  produces  right  thinking.  But  it 
is  the  fashion  to-day  to  speak  of  degenerate  Ameri 
cans.  Certain  men  who  claim  to  speak  with  authority 
assert  that  we  are  no  longer  able  to  distinguish  evil 
from  good,  or  to  conquer  it  if  by  accident  we  recog 
nize  it.  These  Jeremiahs  say:  "American  vitality 
is  a  thing  of  the  past;  the  American  of  to-day  works 
too  hard — in  spells ;  he  eats  too  much ;  he  drinks  too 
much;  he  sleeps  too  little."  If  this  statement  is  true 
at  all,  it  applies  to  but  a  very  small  number  of  our 
people. 

On  the  country  farms,  in  the  little  villages  and 
small  towns,  and  even  in  the  big  cities,  there  are 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  men  who  neither  work 
too  much,  eat  too  much,  drink  too  much,  nor  sleep 
too  little.  In  a  word,  they  lead  the  normal  lives 
their  forebears  led  before  them.  These  men  are  the 
bone  and  sinew  of  the  country — the  wealth  producers, 
not  the  wealth  accumulators  nor  the  wealth  spend 
thrifts.  Nor  are  they  spendthrifts  of  their  own 


Leon  Harrison  119 

vitality.  They  have  learned  that  work  performed 
in  the  right  manner  and  at  the  right  hours  never  killed 
any  man.  They  have  not  gone  searching  after 
strange  devices  in  the  way  of  foods.  They  have  not 
burned  up  their  internal  organs  with  strong  drink. 
They  have  not  destroyed  their  nerve  force  by  not 
taking  the  proper  amount  of  sleep.  To  use  a  hack 
neyed  phrase,  the  bulk  of  American  men  and  women 
lead  the  simple  life,  which  translated  means  plain 
living  and  decent  thinking. 


AMERICAN    CITIZENSHIP  AND   THE 
AMERICAN  JEW 

LEON  HARRISON 
Rabbi  of  the  Temple  Israel,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

[An  address  delivered  at  the  World's  Fair  grounds,  St. 
Louis,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  observance  of  Thanksgiving 
Day,  1904.] 

A  table  is  spread  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
this  day,  at  which  sit  70,000,000  people,  rejoicing 
all  of  them,  on  this  great  national  festival.  Yea,  the 
outcast,  the  pauper,  the  fallen,  rejoicing  also  on  this 
day,  and  saying  in  their  hearts :  "Thank  God  that  I, 
too,  am  an  American  citizen."  And  thank  God  for 
that,  say  we  all ;  for  to  be  an  American  means  not  only 
to  be  free,  but  to  be  worthy  of  freedom ;  it  means  not 
only  to  rule  the  nation,  but  to  rule  our  own  spirit,  to 
guard  our  own  rights  and  the  rights  of  every  man. 
It  means  to  love  fair  play,  the  "square  deal,"  to  honor 
not  overmuch  European  nobility,  but  American 
ability;  to  feel  that  the  bigness  of  our  country  is  an 
accident,  but  the  greatness  of  our  country  an  achieve 
ment,  our  achievement. 

I  am  a  Jew,  indeed,  and  my  Judaism  is  the  breath 


120  Oratory  of  the  South 

of  my  nostrils;  yet  for  me,  the  chosen  nation  is  my 
American  nation ;  the  land  of  promise  is  this  heaven- 
blessed  land;  yea,  "thy  people  shall  be  my  people," 
cries  the  American  Jew.  "Where  thou  goest,  I  will 
go;  where  thou  diest,  I  will  die,  and  there  will  I  be 
buried."  I  cannot  forget  that  the  first  sailor  to  tread 
American  soil  was  a  Jewish  sailor  in  the  crew  of 
Columbus,  that  the  first  white  baby  born  in  Georgia 
was  a  Jewish  baby.  I  cannot  forget  the  Jewish 
soldiers  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  in  the  Revolu 
tionary  War,  the  eight  thousand  Jew  soldiers  in  the 
Civil  War,  who  poured  out  their  blood  like  water  in 
defense  of  our  American  liberties.  I  say,  with  re 
doubled  fervor,  thank  God  that  I  am  an  American 
citizen. 

My  boast  is  not  that  I  belong  simply  to  a  nation  on 
which  the  heavens  rain  gold ;  a  nation  of  mountainous 
wealth,  of  superabundant  harvests,  of  products  un 
rivaled  in  richness  and  diversity.  For  our  chief 
product,  our  incomparable  product,  is  men;  men  of 
intelligence,  courage,  patriotism,  persistence,  love  of 
justice  and  the  public  good.  I  cannot  forget  that  in 
the  providence  of  God  we  are  represented  in  govern 
ment  by  such  a  man,  and  I  am  thankful,  as  an  Ameri 
can,  that  our  finest  ideals  of  patriotism,  intelligence, 
culture,  manliness,  are  represented  by  a  soldier,  a 
scholar,  a  statesman,  a  strenuous  American,  with 
equal  enthusiasm  commending  the  "simple  life"  and 
the  family  life,  believing  alike  in  the  life  full  and  the 
mind  full.  I  am  thankful  for  the  splendid  manhood 
and  example  of  an  American  President — Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

On  this  point,  my  friends,  the  center  of  a  fairyland 
beyond  the  wildest  dreams  of  imagination,  our  cup 
of  patriotism  is  filled  to  overflowing.  In  this  magic 
precinct  the  world  is  condensed  into  a  neighborhood; 
all  history  is  summarized;  all  modern  science  and  pro- 


Leon  Harrison  121 

gress  are  flashed  upon  the  retina  in  one  dazzling 
picture.  In  appreciating  this  glorious,  this  trans 
cendent  opportunity  shall  we  not  be  grateful  also  to 
the  instrument  of  the  Almighty  on  this  great  Thanks 
giving  Day,  to  the  toilers  in  this  cause,  the  gener 
ous  contributors  to  this  end,  the  gifted  artists,  the 
scholars,  the  scientists,  the  foreign  commissioners, 
and,  above  all,  to  our  own  men  whose  energy  and 
ability  created  this  cosmic  dream,  the  tireless  directors 
of  the  great  Exposition  and  their  brilliant  and  inde 
fatigable  chief? 

The  age  of  miracles,  indeed,  has  not  ceased,  if  I 
can  recount  our  causes  of  patriotic  exultation,  of  local 
pride,  of  World's  Fair  thankfulness  in  my  allotted 
time  of  fifteen  minutes. 

I  thank  God  that  I  am  an  American,  because  here 
the  common  equipment  is  manhood,  the  highest  goal 
is  possible  to  all,  the  career  is  open  to  talent,  there  is 
no  patrician  and  no  plebeian,  no  partiality  and  no  pre 
judice,  but  every  man  may  work  out  to  its  finish  the 
best  there  is  in  him. 

And  I  am  thankful  for  the  little  red  schoolhouse 
and  the  discipline ;  for  the  public  schools,  that  mean 
to  all  assimilation,  Americanization,  patriotism,  on  a 
level,  and  for  their  intelligent,  faithful  teachers  I  am 
thankful — paid,  perhaps,  a  little  less  than  our  coach 
men  and  our  cooks,  but  in  time  to  be  honored  as  the 
guardians  and  propagators  of  what  is  best  in  our 
American  traditions  and  our  mission  for  the  world. 
Our  children  will  learn  from  them  that  in  the  prov 
idence  of  God  we  will  fulfill  our  holy  function  to 
mankind  and  proclaim  "liberty  to  the  world  and  to 
all  the  inhabitants  thereof,"  though  some  may  doubt 
and  shake  the  head. 

What  though  we  have  political  infirmities  and  frail 
ties,  municipal  measles,  trivial  to  the  young,  though 
fatal  to  the  old;  what  matters  it  that  we  make  haste 


122  Oratory  of  the  South 

slowly,  with  barnacles  corroding  and  parasitical  im 
peding  our  ship  of  state,  shall  we  lose  heart  when 
we  remember  the  weary  forty  years  of  Israel  in  the 
wilderness,  when  a  few  weeks  were  sufficient  for  the 
journey,  yet  forty  years  there  were  to  learn  the  nec 
essary  lessons  of  self-government,  or  that  those 
might  die  that  could  not  learn  them?  Yes,  the  route 
was  circuitous;  roundabout  must  the  road  be  ever 
that  is  to  lead  to  freedom,  and  to  train  and  equip 
men  for  the  blessings  of  freedom,  so  that  they  are 
fitted  for  the  stupendous  task,  and  that  all  errors 
and  frailties  may  be  sloughed  off  and  the  sins  of 
youth  depart  with  youth,  and  the  fullness  of  maturity 
come  in  with  the  end  of  a  blundering  apprenticeship, 
and  its  fruition  in  ripened  experience  and  wisdom. 

Let  us  thank  the  King  of  Kings  that  we  are  politi 
cally  convalescent ;  that  a  better  day  has  begun ;  that 
in  politics  actual  honesty  is  the  best  policy,  and  that 
in  State,  city,  and  nation  we  are  beginning  to  care 
deeply  for  the  best  and  finest  ideals  of  American  pub 
lic  spirit,  integrity,  and  inflexible  conviction. 

And,  above  all,  I  rejoice  and  am  thankful  to  God 
that  here  conscience  is  free,  the  soul  is  not  gagged  and 
fettered,  but  every  faith  and  creed  is  equal  before  the 
law.  It  is  no  small  thing  that  in  this  great  land  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant  realize  that  they  are  Chris 
tians,  and  remember  the  words,  "By  this  shall  all  men 
know  that  yc  are  my  disciples,  that  ye  love  one  an 
other."  It  is  no  small  thing  that  on  this  free  soil  the 
Christian  and  the  Jew  remember  that  they  are  alike 
human,  alike  revering  the  sacred  Scriptures  and  the 
universal  God,  alike  laboring  for  peace,  righteous 
ness,  justice,  and  brotherhood. 

We  have  on  this  platform  the  leading  representa 
tives  of  Protestantism  and  Catholicism,  the  lion  and 
the  lamb,  and  yet  the  lamb  is  not  inside  the  lion. 
There  was  a  time  when  these  two  bodies  contended  to 


James  Gibbons  123 

rend  each  other  asunder,  and  when  they  fought  no 
longer  among  themselves,  both  pounced  down  upon 
the  guileless  Jew.  But  this  is  changed,  in  this  coun 
try  at  least. 

And  for  all  this  I  thank  God.  For  our  common 
country  I  rejoice  before  Heaven.  For  its  manhood 
and  intelligence  and  tolerance  and  rugged  strength 
and  integrity  I  am  grateful.  In  its  assembled  in 
signia,  stars  for  the  brave  and  stripes  for  the  base; 
the  blue  of  heaven  its  hue  of  hope  eternal;  the  red 
of  blood  poured  out  in  battle  its  type  of  patriotic 
valor  and  sacrifice;  its  white  for  stainless  honor,  for 
American  integrity  and  truth,  and  from  this  em 
blazoned  field  the  stars  are  shining  of  undimmed  faith 
and  hope  and  cheer  in  darkest  night  for  all  the  world. 

As  you  depart,  remember  this  sacred  flag.  Re 
member  the  mercies  of  God  in  gratitude,  in  renewed 
love  of  country,  in  a  larger  bounty,  in  a  warmer  love 
for  the  friendliness  and  for  the  stranger  that  is  within 
thy  gates.  Amen. 


TRUTH   AND   SINCERITY   OF 
CHARACTER 

JAMES  GIBBONS 

Roman  Catholic  Cardinal,  of  Baltimore,  Md. 
[Extract  from  a  sermon  preached  in  Baltimore,  1896.] 

The  highest  compliment  that  can  be  bestowed  on 
a  man  is,  to  say  of  him  that  he  is  a  man  of  his  word; 
and  the  greatest  reproach  that  can  be  cast  on  an  in 
dividual  is,  to  assert  that  he  has  no  regard  for  the 
virtue  of  veracity.  Truth  is  the  golden  coin  with 
God's  image  stamped  upon  it,  that  circulates  among 
men  of  all  nations  and  tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues ; 
its  standard  value  never  changes  nor  depreciates. 


124  Oratory  of  the  South 

"Truth  has  such  a  face  and  such  a  mien, 
As  to  be  loved,  needs  only  to  be  seen." 

Like  all  valuable  commodities,  truth  is  often  coun 
terfeited.  If  it  is  a  crime  to  counterfeit  money,  it 
is  a  greater  crime  to  adulterate  virtue.  The  more 
precious  the  genuine  coin,  the  more  criminal  and  dan 
gerous  is  the  spurious  imitation ;  and  as  truth  is  more 
valuable  than  specie,  its  base  resemblance  is  more 
iniquitous  and  detestable. 

As  truth  is  the  medium  of  social  and  commercial 
intercourse,  so  high  is  the  value  which  civilized  so 
ciety  sets  upon  it,  that,  for  its  own  protection,  it  metes 
out  the  severest  punishment  to  anyone  who  violates 
it  in  commercial  transactions.  Some  time  ago  a 
citizen,  who  had  boasted  of  owning  more  property 
than  any  other  person  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  large 
city,  was  afterward  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  tell 
ing  a  lie  on  a  scrap  of  paper,  or  for  forging  another 
man's  name  on  a  note. 

The  virtue  of  veracity  is  so  indispensable  an  ele 
ment  in  the  composition  of  a  Christian  gentleman  that 
neither  splendid  talents,  nor  engaging  manners,  nor 
benevolence  of  disposition,  nor  self-denial,  nor  all 
these  qualities  combined,  nor  even  the  practice  of 
religious  exercises,  can  atone  for  its  absence.  They 
all  become  vitiated,  they  lose  their  savor,  if  the  salt 
of  truth  and  sincerity  is  wanting. 

The  vice  of  lying  and  hypocrisy  is  so  odious  and 
repulsive  that  it  is  obliged  to  hide  its  deformity  and 
clothe  itself  in  the  garment  of  truth. 

While  we  feel  at  our  ease  and  are  disposed  to  be 
open  and  communicative  in  the  presence  of  an  upright 
and  candid  man,  we  are  instinctively  reserved  and 
guarded  before  a  deceitful  person.  He  diffuses 
around  him  an  atmosphere  of  distrust,  and  we  shun 
him  as  we  would  a  poisonous  reptile.  "There  is  no 


James  Gibbons  125 

vice,"  says  Bacon,  "that  so  covereth  a  man  with 
shame  as  to  be  false  and  perfidious." 

So  damaging  and  infamous  in  public  estimation  is 
the  imputation  of  falsehood  that,  when  we  charge  a 
man  with  unveracity,  we  rarely  go  so  far  as  tp  call 
him  a  liar  to  his  face ;  but  we  tell  him  in  less  offensive 
language  that  he  has  a  vivid  imagination,  that  his 
memory  is  defective,  or  that  he  has  been  betrayed  into 
an  error  of  judgment. 

All  men,  Pagans  and  Jews,  as  well  as  Christians, 
pay  homage  to  truth.  They  all  profess  to  worship 
at  her  shrine.  Pagan  Rome  supplies  us  with  noble 
examples  of  fidelity  to  truth  even  at  the  sacrifice  of 
life.  When  Regulus  was  sent  from  Carthage  to 
Rome  with  ambassadors  to  sue  for  peace,  it  was  under 
the  condition  that  he  should  return  to  his  Cartha 
ginian  prison  if  peace  was  not  proclaimed.  When 
he  arrived  in  Rome  he  implored  the  Senate  to  con 
tinue  the  war,  and  not  to  agree  to  the  exchange  of 
prisoners.  That  implied  his  own  return  to  captivity 
at  Carthage.  The  Senators  and  the  chief  priest  held 
that,  as  his  oath  had  been  extorted  by  force,  he  was 
not  bound  by  it.  "I  am  not  ignorant,"  replied  Re 
gulus,  "that  tortures  and  death  await  me;  but  what 
are  these  to  the  shame  of  an  infamous  action  or  the 
wounds  of  a  guilty  mind?  Slave  as  I  am  to  Carthage, 
I  have  still  the  spirit  of  a  Roman.  I  have  sworn  to 
return.  It  is  my  duty  to  go."  Regulus  returned  to 
Carthage,  and,  it  is  said,  was  tortured  to  death. 

If  there  is  one  virtue  more  clear  than  another  on 
the  pages  of  the  New  Testament,  if  there  is  one  virtue 
for  which  Christ  and  his  disciples  were  eminently 
conspicuous  in  their  public  and  private  life,  it  is  the 
virtue  of  truth,  candor,  ingenuousness,  and  simplicity 
of  character;  and  if  there  is  any  vice  more  particu 
larly  detested  by  them,  it  is  hypocrisy,  cunning,  and 
duplicity  of  conduct. 


126  Oratory  of  the  South 

So  great  is  our  Saviour's  reverence  for  truth,  so 
great  His  aversion  for  falsehood,  that  He  calls  Him 
self  "the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  Even  His 
enemies  could  not  withhold  their  admiration  for  His 
truthfulness  and  sincerity.  "Master,"  they  said,  "we 
know  that  thou  art  true,  and  teachest  the  way  of  God 
in  truth;  neither  carest  thou  for  any  one;  for  thou 
does  not  regard  the  person  of  men." 

"Let  your  speech,"  says  our  Lord,  "be  yea,  yea, 
nay,  nay,"  as  if  He  would  say:  Let  your  conversation 
be  always  frank  and  direct,  free  from  the  tinsel  of  em 
bellishment  and  exaggeration,  divested  of  studied  am 
biguity  with  intent  to  deceive.  Christ  is  the  martyr 
of  truth  as  well  as  of  charity.  Caiaphas  said  of  Him : 
"I  adjure  thee  by  the  living  God  that  thou  tell  us 
whether  thou  be  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God."  How 
easily  could  Jesus  have  saved  His  life  on  this  occasion 
by  His  silence  or  by  an  evasive  answer!  But  by 
openly  avowing  that  He  was  the  Christ,  He  signed 
His  own  death-warrant. 

There  was  one  class  of  persons  toward  whom  our 
Lord  was  unsparing  in  His  reprobation,  and  these 
were  the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  He  calls  them  a  gen 
eration  of  vipers.  "Wo  to  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites,"  he  says,  "because  ye  make  clean  the  out 
side  of  the  cup  and  of  the  dish:  but  within  you  are 
full  of  rapine  and  uncleanliness  .  .  .  Ye  are  like  to 
whited  sepulchers,  which  outwardly  appear  to  men 
beautiful,  but  within  are  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and 
of  all  filthiness.  So  you  also  outwardly  indeed  ap 
pear  to  men  just,  but  inwardly  you  are  full  of  hypoc 
risy  and  iniquity."  His  language  toward  them  is 
a  scathing  denunciation  of  their  insincerity,  selfishness, 
and  perversion  of  the  truth.  We  may  judge  how 
odious  is  deceit  in  His  eyes  when  He  says  to  the 
Pharisees:  "Again  I  say  to  you  that  the  publicans 


James  Gibbons  121 

and  the  harlots  shall  go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  be 
fore  you." 

St.  Paul  says:  "Putting  away  lying,  speak  ye  the 
truth  every  man  with  his  neighbour,  for  we  are  mem 
bers  one  of  another."  There  is  so  absolute  a  trust 
and  confidence  between  the  members  of  the  human 
body  that,  when  the  heart,  or  hand,  or  foot  suffers 
pain,  the  head  never  suspects  the  afflicted  member  of 
practicing  deception.  The  same  trustworthiness  that 
subsists  among  our  physical  members  should  extend, 
also,  to  the  domestic,  collegiate,  and  social  body. 
Without  this  mutual  confidence  there  could  be  no 
official  nor  friendly  relations  among  men,  and  the 
wheels  of  social  intercourse  and  commercial  commu 
nication  would  suddenly  stop.  Nearly  all  the  in 
formation  that  we  acquire  is  obtained  from  the  testi 
mony  of  others.  Although  we  may  at  times  be  im 
posed  upon,  we  have  an  instinctive  faith  in  the 
veracity  of  our  fellow-beings. 

One  may  be  guilty  of  falsehood  in  many  ways. 
He  may  lie  by  telling  a  half-truth,  omitting  a  cir 
cumstance  essential  to  the  fidelity  of  the  narrative. 
He  may  lie  by  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  by  a  gesture, 
by  a  deceitful  silence,  or  by  palming  off  in  class  as 
his  own  production  the  fruit  of  another's  brain :  for 
the  essence  of  a  falsehood  consists  in  the  intention  to 
deceive.  His  life  may  be  a  colossal  lie  by  being  false 
to  his  profession  or  calling,  appearing  to  be  rich  in 
grace  and  good  works  in  the  sight  of  men,  but  being 
poor  and  blind  and  miserable  in  the  sight  of  God. 
There  are  others  who  have  a  habit  of  exaggerating 
from  a  morbid  desire  of  imparting  a  relish  to  the 
conversation,  and  of  attracting  the  attention  of  their 
hearers.  The  incidents  they  describe  are  usually  of 
a  startling  and  phenomenal  nature,  and  their  adven 
turous  experiences  have  the  flavor  of  a  Gulliver  or  a 
Baron  Munchausen. 


128  Oratory  of  the  South 

The  pernicious  habit  of  retailing  jocose  lies  and 
sensational  stories,  of  making  inaccurate  statements, 
and  of  talking  at  random  without  weighing  his  words, 
will  impair  the  offender's  reputation  for  veraciousness 
in  grave  matters  and  expose  him  to  the  penalty  of 
not  being  believed  even  when  he  tells  the  truth.  He 
will  be  an  illustration  of  the  boy  in  the  fable  who 
had  repeatedly  given  false  alarms  about  the  approach 
of  the  wolf;  but  when  the  wolf  had  actually  invaded 
the  fold  his  outcry  remained  unheeded. 

The  two  chief  causes  that  lead  men  to  prevaricate 
are  prejudice  against  their  neighbor  and  inordinate 
self-love.  Prejudice  warps  our  judgment  and  jaun 
dices  our  mind,  so  that  we  view  in  an  unfavorable 
light  our  neighbor's  words  and  actions.  Self-love 
and  vanity  prompt  us  to  exaggerate  our  good  deeds, 
and  to  underrate  or  palliate  our  own  shortcomings. 

Charity  and  humility  are  the  guardians  of  truth. 
They  are  the  two  angels  that  defend  the  temple  of 
the  soul  against  the  approach  of  the  demon  of  false 
hood.  Charity  counsels  us  not  to  judge  our  neighbor 
unjustly  or  to  magnify  his  defects;  and  humility  in 
spires  us  not  to  extenuate  our  own. 

If  we  cannot  be  martyrs,  let  us  be  confessors  of 
the  truth.  If  we  have  not  the  courage,  like  our  Mas 
ter,  to  endure  death  for  its  sake,  we  should  at  least 
be  prepared  to  suffer  for  it  some  passing  humiliation 
or  confusion. 

Let  it  be  the  aim  of  your  life  to  be  always  frank 
and  open,  candid,  sincere,  and  ingenuous  in  your  re 
lations  with  your  fellow-man.  Set  your  face  against 
all  deceit  and  duplicity,  all  guile,  hypocrisy,  and  dis 
simulation.  You  will  thus  be  living  up  to  the  maxims 
of  the  Gospel,  you  will  prove  yourself  a  genuine 
disciple  of  the  God  of  truth,  you  will  commend  your 
self  to  all  honest  men.  You  will  triumph  over  those 
that  lie  in  wait  to  deceive,  for  the  intriguer  is  usually 
caught  in  his  own  toils. 


Augustus  O.  Bacon  129 

THE  CASE  OF  SENATOR  REED  SMOOT, 
OF  UTAH 

AUGUSTUS  O.  BACON 
United  States  Senator  from  Georgia 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate,  Feb 
ruary  20,  1907.] 

Mr.  President: 

For  the  first  time  during  my  service  in  the  Senate 
I  am  called  upon  by  my  vote  to  pass  on  the  question 
whether  one  holding  a  seat  as  a  Senator  here  shall 
be  excluded  from  this  body.  Several  reasons  are 
assigned  why  Senator  Smoot  should  be  excluded  from 
the  Senate.  In  a  matter  of  so  great  gravity  it  is  due 
to  myself  that  I  should  state  the  grounds  on  which 
I  shall  base  my  vote  in  this  case. 

The  fact  that  Senator  Smoot  is  a  Mormon  and  be 
lieves  in  the  tenets  and  dogmas  of  the  Mormon 
Church  will  not,  in  my  opinion,  justify  his  exclusion 
from  the  Senate.  It  would  be  an  extremely  danger 
ous  precedent  to  exclude  a  Senator  because  of  his  re 
ligious  or  political  belief,  however  erroneous  we  may 
believe  that  belief  to  be. 

There  are  other  alleged  grounds  upon  which  it  is 
claimed  that  he  should  be  excluded.  In  some  of 
these  there  are  issues  and  conflicting  contentions  as  to 
the  facts,  and  differences  in  the  construction  proper  to 
be  placed  upon  acts  alleged  to  have  been  done.  These 
I  pass  by  because  of  such  conflicting  contentions  and 
of  such  uncertainty  of  facts  and  of  construction. 
There  is,  however,  one  fact  upon  which  there  is  no 
issue,  because  the  fact  is  avowed  by  Senator  Smoot 
himself. 

He  is  not  a  polygamist.  That  is  conceded,  and  is 
to  his  credit.  He  is,  however,  an  apostle,  one  of  the 
governing  body  of  the  church,  empowered  to  give 


130  Oratory  of  the  South 

spiritual  and  temporal  law  and  precept  to  its  fol 
lowers.  It  is  conceded  that  he  is  and  has  been  for 
years,  both  before  and  since  his  election  to  the  Senate, 
in  intimate  official  relationship  and  official  coopera 
tion  and  necessary  official  approval  with  other  mem 
bers  of  the  governing  officials  of  the  church  who  have 
been,  during  all  the  time  and  still  are,  while  such 
officials,  in  the  open,  notorious,  defiant,  and  even  boast 
ful  violation  of  law  in  living  in  undisguised,  undis 
puted  polygamous  cohabitation.  More  than  this,  by 
his  own  avowal,  while  such  official,  as  an  apostle,  he 
has  voted  to  place  in  the  highest  office  of  the  church 
Joseph  F.  Smith,  who  was  at  the  time  of  his  election, 
as  he  was  before  and  has  ever  since  continued  to  be, 
in  the  open,  notorious,  and  defiant  violation  of  law  in 
living  in  undisguised,  undisputed  polygamous  cohabi 
tation;  and  in  thus  indorsing  and  continuing  to  the 
present  time  to  support  him  as  their  head  and  chief, 
Senator  Smoot  has,  during  all  these  years,  in  the  most 
pronounced  and  indisputable  manner,  held  forth  this 
violator  and  profaner  of  the  law  as  one  worthy  to 
be  by  the  people  commended  and  approved  as  their 
fit  teacher  and  exemplar. 

I  do  not  undertake  to  argue  the  correctness  of  my 
conclusion.  I  only  state  it  in  order  that  it  may  be 
known  on  what  ground  my  vote  will  be  based. 

Mr.  President,  after  the  most  careful  consideration, 
having  regard  to  the  gravity  of  the  interests  involved, 
I  have  reached  the  conclusion  that  Senator  Smoot,  in 
the  language  of  the  protestants,  ought  not  to  be  per 
mitted  to  sit  as  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate 
for  reasons  affecting  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the 
United  States  and  their  Senators  in  Congress,  and 
upon  the  grounds  and  for  the  reason  that  he  is  one 
of  a  self-perpetuating  body  of  fifteen  men  who,  con 
stituting  the  ruling  authorities  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  or  Mormon  Church, 


William  J.  Stone  131 

claim,  and  by  their  followers  are  accorded  the  right 
to  claim,  supreme  authority,  divinely  sanctioned,  to 
shape  the  belief  and  control  the  conduct  of  those  un 
der  them  in  all  matters  whatsoever,  civil  and  religious, 
temporal  and  spiritual,  and  who,  thus  uniting  in  them 
selves  authority  in  church  and  state,  do  so  exercise  the 
same  as  to  inclucate  and  encourage  a  belief  in  polyg 
amy  and  polygamous  cohabitation ;  who  countenance 
and  connive  at  violations  of  the  laws  of  the  State 
prohibiting  the  same,  regardless  of  pledges  made  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  statehood  and  of  covenants 
made  with  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  who, 
by  all  means  in  their  power,  protect  and  honor  those 
who  in  themselves  violate  the  laws  of  the  land  and 
are  guilty  of  practices  destructive  of  the  family  and 
the  home. 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  MISSOURI 

WILLIAM  J.  STONE 
United  States  Senator  from  Missouri 

[In  1892  Senator  Stone  was  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  Governor  of  Missouri.  His  opponent  was  his  present 
colleague  in  the  Senate,  William  Warner,  who,  as  the  Re 
publican  nominee,  opened  his  campaign  at  Sedalia  with  a 
speech  in  which  he  pictured  what  he  termed  "the  New  Mis 
souri"  which  would  follow  a  Republican  victory;  defended 
the  Republican  regime  in  Missouri  and  assailed  the 
twenty  years  of  Democratic  rule.  Mr.  Stone,  at  a  mon 
ster  mass  meeting  in  St.  Louis,  in  the  course  of  what  was 
perhaps  the  most  notable  speech  in  his  career,  made  answer 
to  Major  Warner.  The  following  extracts  cover  a  por 
tion  of  Mr.  Stone's  speech  in  which  he  depicted  the  terrors 
of  reconstruction  days  in  Missouri.] 

I  have  read  Major  Warner's  recent  fulmination 
at  Sedalia.  He  abounds  in  vague  rhetorical  flour 
ishes  about  a  "New  Missouri" — a  wide  open,  pro- 


132  Oratory  of  the  South 

gressive  Missouri.  He  speaks  of  it  in  glittering 
metaphor,  as  Francis  Orellana  describes  his  shining 
terra  incognita,  the  fabulous  El  Dorado  of  the  olden 
time.  How  he  is  to  transport  us  into  the  promised 
land  flowing  with  the  traditional  milk  and  honey 
he  does  not  condescend  to  advise  us.  He  does,  in 
deed,  declare  a  sanguinary  purpose,  firm  fixed  and 
irrevocable,  to  strike  off  not  one,  but  all  the  heads 
of  that  mythical  hydra  he  calls  Bourbonism,  what 
ever  that  may  be.  But  beyond  this  butcher's  act  of 
bloody  decapitation  he  does  not  deign  to  unfold  to 
curious  and  vulgar  eyes  his  great  designs.  He  out 
lines  no  purpose,  indicates  no  policy,  he  develops  no 
system.  He  swears  there  shall  be  a  revelation  some 
day  or  some  other  day,  and  that  in  all  due  time  he 
will  press  his  Aladdin's  ring  and  summon  to  his  aid 
some  occult  influence,  some  supernal  energy,  some 
mighty,  invisible  force,  which  under  his  august  com 
mand  will  bear  the  State  up  bodily  into  the  celestial 
regions,  where  all  of  us,  rich  and  poor,  black  and 
white,  enraptured  and  in  love,  can  lie  down  in  cool 
and  shady  places  by  purling  brooks,  henceforth  for 
ever  to  watch  the  butterfly  sip  honey  from  the  rose 
and  listen  to  the  melody  of  sweet-throated  birds  flit 
ting  among  the  green,  rustling  banners  in  the  tree- 
tops.  He  promises  that  all  this,  in  due  course  of 
his  providence,  moving  mysteriously  to  perform, 
shall  come  to  a  full  fruition.  We  must  not  be  in 
quisitive,  we  must  only  be  patient  and  trustful  and 
follow  him.  The  millennium  will  begin  when  Major 
Warner  strikes  down  this  "Bourbon  Democracy," 
plants  his  foot  upon  its  throat  and  extirpates  it. 
Have  patience,  I  pray  you. 

But  the  gallant  Major  does  more  than  to  paint 
rosy  pictures  on  the  horizon  of  the  future.  He  is 
not  only  prophetic,  he  is  reminiscent.  His  utter 
ances  are  not  only  oracular,  they  are  historical.  He 


William  J.  Stone  133 

discourses  of  the  past  as  well  as  of  the  future.  His 
speech  is  not  only  a  promise  of  what  his  party  would 
do,  it  is  likewise  a  eulogy  of  what  it  has  done.  He  in 
vokes  the  past.  He  indulges  in  comparisons.  He 
lauds  the  Republican  party  and  inveighs  against 
the  Democracy.  He  approves,  applauds,  glorifies  the 
achievements  of  radicalism  in  Missouri  during  the 
last  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  in  all  of  which  he  bore 
a  conspicuous  part.  Figures  he  juggles  with,  facts 
he  perverts  and  evades,  and  with  superb  audacity 
declares  the  period  of  Republican  triumph,  from 
1865  to  1871,  to  have  been  the  golden  era  in  Mis 
souri.  Sir,  I  was  amazed  when  I  saw  Major  Warner 
stand  unblushing  before  the  people  of  Missouri  and 
pronounce  his  glowing  panegyric  on  the  achievements, 
the  record,  and  history  of  his  party  in  this  State.  I 
had  expected  to  find  him  penitent  and  apologizing; 
instead,  he  stands  forth  defiant  to  applaud  and  de 
fend.  I  had  expected  to  find  him  excusing,  extenuat 
ing,  palliating;  instead  he  lifts  the  shadow  from  off 
the  old  radical  days  of  proscription,  fraud,  and  pub 
lic  debauchery,  upon  which  we  have  been  wont  to 
look  back  with  shuddering  shame,  and  swears  by  all 
the  gods  at  once  they  were  the  meridian  days  of 
Missouri's  prosperity,  pride,  and  glory.  This  in 
deed  was  a  daring  and  audacious  thing  for  the 
doughty  Major  to  do. 

And  so  it  is  history  the  Major  invokes,  and  makes 
bold  challenge  for  comparisons.  Good,  my  noble 
lord,  come  with  me  now  and  you  shall  have  history 
and  comparisons  to  your  dear  heart's  dismay. 

Let  me  call  to  Major  Warner's  elusive  memory  a 
chapter  in  the  history  of  his  party  which  will  be 
familiar  with  him,  for  he  towers  high  among  those 
who  were  conspicuous  in  it.  When  the  great  civil 
war  between  the  States  was  concluded,  the  ragged 
veterans  of  the  Confederacy  surrendered  their  swords 


134  Oratory  of  the  South 

to  the  gallant  armies  of  the  Union  under  a  pledge 
that  they  should  return  in  peace  to  their  homes  and 
be  again  clothed  in  all  the  immunities,  and  enter 
again  undisturbed  upon  the  discharge  of  all  the  high 
duties,  of  citizenship.  As  a  rule  the  real,  non-political 
soldiers  of  the  Federal  army  were  always  ready  and 
willing  to  keep  that  pledge ;  the  politicians  were  not. 
But  let  that  pass.  I  will  not  talk  about  the  Con 
federate  soldiers.  When  they  entered  the  army  they 
took  upon  themselves  the  hazard  of  war.  If  the 
politician  spat  upon  the  solemn  pledge  Grant  and 
Sheridan,  those  great  captains  of  the  Federal  armies, 
gave;  if  the  Missouri  Confederate,  returning  to  his 
home,  found,  instead  of  peace  and  the  prerogative  of 
citizenship,  a  menacing  danger  lurking  in  every 
shadow  and  revengeful  ostracism  stalking  in  the  open 
sunlight,  he  rarely  ever  complained.  I  shall  not 
speak  of  him.  The  Confederate  soldier  may  disap 
pear. 

But  Missouri  was  a  border  State,  and  the  red- 
crested  wave  of  war  swept  back  and  forth  across  her 
hills  and  plains.  Sons  parted  from  their  fathers  and 
brothers  bade  each  other  a  long  farewell  and  sep 
arated.  Families  and  kindred  and  friends  were 
divided  and  torn  apart  to  go  their  several  ways. 
Union  fathers  had  sons  away  in  the  Southland,  with 
Price  and  Shelby.  Confederate  sons  had  fathers 
flashing  their  swords  where  the  old  flag  waved.  This 
is  what  the  war  brought  to  Missouri. 

Now,  when  this  great  struggle  had  ended,  after  the 
shadows  had  melted  away,  after  sweet  peace  had 
come  on  her  white  wings,  hovering  over  the  land — 
after  the  war  was  over,  the  radical  party,  then  trium 
phant  in  Missouri,  with  a  view  to  upholding  its  power 
and  perpetuating  its  reign  of  plunder  and  debauchery, 
inaugurated  a  policy  and  a  system  of  proscription  and 
persecution  which,  for  harsh  brutality,  stands  with- 


William  J.  Stone  135 

out  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  this  country,  and  I 
believe  without  a  precedent  in  the  history  of  en 
lightened  nations.  They  inserted  a  clause  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  State,  and  afterwards  enacted 
registration  laws  and  other  statutes  for  its  enforce 
ment,  which  provided,  among  other  things,  that  no 
man  should  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage,  or  hold 
any  office  of  honor,  profit,  or  trust — not  even  that  of 
constable  or  city  alderman;  nor  be  permitted  to  act 
as  a  director  in  any  corporation,  public  or  private; 
nor  practice  his  profession  as  an  attorney  at  law ;  nor 
teach  any  school,  either  public  or  private;  nor  serve 
as  a  juror  in  any  court  of  the  State;  nor  hold  prop 
erty  in  trust  for  the  benefit  of  any  religious  or  chari 
table  body  or  society;  nor  should  any  person  "be 
competent  as  a  bishop,  priest,  deacon,  minister,  elder, 
or  other  clergyman  of  any  religious  persuasion,  sect, 
or  denomination,  to  teach  or  preach  or  solemnize 
marriages,"  if  such  person  had  ever  at  any  time  been 
in  armed  hostility  to  the  United  States  or  the  State 
of  Missouri;  or  had  ever  given  aid,  comfort,  coun 
tenance,  or  support  to  any  person  engaged  in  such 
hostility;  or  had  ever  in  any  manner  contributed  to 
the  Confederate  cause  or  sent  into  the  Confederate 
lines  any  money,  goods,  letters,  or  information  of 
any  kind ;  or  who  had  ever  by  any  act  or  word  mani 
fested  any  sympathy  with  those  engaged  in  the  Re 
bellion  ;  or  had  ever  knowing  or  willingly  harbored, 
aided  or  countenanced  any  person  engaged  in  maraud 
ing  in  this  State.  I  have  not  repeated  the  whole  of 
these  disqualifying  provisions  by  any  manner  of 
means,  but  I  have  repeated  enough  of  them. 

Before  any  man  could  exercise  any  of  these  great 
and  inestimable  privileges  of  citizenship, — before  he 
could  vote,  teach,  or  preach, — he  was  required  by  the 
law  to  take  a  solemn  oath  that  he  had  read  the  dis 
qualifying  clause  of  the  Constitution,  was  perfectly 


136  Oratory  of  the  South 

familiar  with  it,  and  that  he  had  never  done  any  of 
the  things  therein  prohibited.  If  any  person  at 
tempted  to  hold  and  exercise  any  of  the  "offices,  posi 
tions,  trusts,  professions,  or  functions"  specified  in 
the  law,  without  first  taking  the  oath,  he  subjected 
himself  to  a  fine  of  not  less  than  five  hundred  dollars 
and  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  for  a  period  of 
not  less  than  six  months;  and  if  he  falsely  took  the 
oath — that  is,  if  it  could  be  shown  that  he  had  done 
some  of  the  prohibited  things — he  was  declared 
guilty  of  perjury  and  subjected  himself  to  indictment 
and  imprisonment  in  the.  penitentiary  for  a  term  of 
not  less  than  two  years. 

Of  course  under  the  provisions  of  this  barbarous 
and  inquisitorial  statute  every  ex-Confederate  soldier 
was  instantly  excluded  from  any  participation  what 
ever  in  the  government  of  this  State,  county  or  mu 
nicipality.  But  I  said  I  would  not  complain  on  his 
account.  He  had  slept  in  the  bivouac,  sung  love 
songs  on  the  march,  and  stormed  with  red-dripping 
blade  on  the  open  field.  I  do  not  complain  for  him. 
But  if  some  old  father,  growing  whiter  about  his 
temples  with  each  passing  day,  bending  lower  under 
the  weight  of  anxieties  multiplying,  did  ever  in  the 
twilight  about  his  hearthstone  think  of  his  boy  walk 
ing  the  lonely  picket  line  somewhere  in  the  Southland, 
with  no  company  except  the  cold  gleaming  stars  and 
no  voice  about  him  save  the  moaning  wind,  and, 
looking,  saw  the  old  wife  and  mother  sitting  silent 
there  with  a  tear  trembling  on  her  cheek,  and  if  he 
clasped  her  to  his  heart,  knelt  with  her,  and  prayed 
with  her  to  the  good  God  to  send  some  sweet  angel 
with  rustling  wing  to  hover  over  their  boy — for  that 
crime  that  old  man  was  dismantled  of  his  citizenship. 

If  when  this  Southern  soldier  boy  went  out  from 
the  old  home  to  the  battlefield  he  left  behind  him  a 
gentle,  sweet-faced  sister,  his  kisses  fresh  upon  her 


William  J.  Stone  137 

quivering  lips,  and  that  grim-visaged  thing  we  call 
death  had  crept  in  among  the  shadows  of  the  old  lawn 
trees  waving  in  the  moonlight,  and  across  the  thresh 
old,  and  stolen  this  sweet  child  from  her  mother's 
arms  and  borne  her  away ;  and  if  the  old  father  had 
by  some  covert  means  sent  a  letter  to  his  absent  boy 
bearing  the  sad  message  of  the  blight  at  home — for 
that  crime  he  was  despoiled  of  the  noblest  prerogative 
of  the  citizen. 

If  here  in  Missouri,  where  the  contending  armies 
surged  back  and  forth,  a  father  had  met  his  boy  and 
given  to  him  some  little  trinket  prepared  by  loving 
hands — had  given  him  an  apple  plucked  from  the 
old  orchard  under  whose  flowering  umbrage  he  had 
played  in  childhood — for  that  crime  he  stood  dis 
honored  before  the  law. 

If  some  splendid,  high-souled  Missouri  boy,  proud 
of  his  uniform  and  bearing  arms  for  the  Union,  had 
heard  that  his  brother  in  his  suit  of  faded  gray  was 
moaning  and  fretting  his  life  away  in  some  army  hos 
pital  of  the  South,  and  he  had  found  means  to  send 
him  some  message  of  love  and  something  to  tempt 
the  fever  away — for  that  crime  he  was  disfranchised 
under  the  terms  of  the  law. 

If  some  old  man — I  have  one  in  mind — who  had 
given  all  the  years  of  his  life  to  study  and  teaching, 
who  loved  his  books  and  was  proud  of  "his  boys," 
many  of  whom  had  gone  forth  into  the  world 
equipped  under  his  tutelage — if  he  had  only  thought 
of  the  soldier  boys  he  had  loved  in  the  old  days,  and 
prayed  for  them  or  wept  for  them — for  that  crime 
he  was  not  only  disfranchised,  but  the  doors  of  his 
schoolroom  were  closed  and  he  forbidden  to  follow 
his  profession. 

"You  take  my  life 
When  you  do  take  the  means  whereby  I  live." 


138  Oratory  of  the  South 

But  worse  than  any  of  these — than  all  of  these, 
perhaps — if  some  old  father  of  the  holy  faith,  his 
thin  locks  white  with  long  years  of  saintly  life,  had 
stopped  by  the  wayside  to  do  some  Southern  warrior 
a  kindness  for  sweet  charity's  sake — to  give  him  shel 
ter,  or  food,  or  drink — for  that  he  was  forbidden 
ever  again  to  lift  his  voice  for  the  Master  either  in 
warning  or  exhortation;  forbidden  to  appeal  ever 
again  to  men  for  a  higher  and  purer  and  nobler  life, 
or  to  point  them  along  the  pathway  mounting  to  the 
stars. 

For  all  these  I  do  speak  to-day.  Their  wrongs 
come  back  to  haunt  and  accuse  that  old  intolerant 
radicalism  which  in  the  day  of  its  power  made  love 
a  crime  and  justice  a  mockery.  Do  you  think  I 
exaggerate?  Every  man  who  lived  in  Missouri 
twenty  years  ago,  and  was  familiar  with  the  Drake 
Constitution  and  the  force  bills  enacted  under  it, 
knows  I  speak  with  moderation. 

I  have  not  been  reciting  ancient  history  nor  foreign 
history;  it  is  both  modern  and  domestic.  It  is  not 
of  Poland's  sad,  pathetic  story  I  have  been  speaking. 
These  are  not  sorrows  that  have  come  sobbing  out 
of  the  midnight  which  has  hung  starless  for  seven 
hundred  years  over  the  Emerald  Isle.  These  are 
not  stories  borne  on  the  shivering  winds  blown  down 
from  that  mighty  despotism  in  northern  Europe,  where 
men  are  hunted  like  wild  beasts  and  driven  like  cattle 
into  hopeless  exile.  I  have  been  telling  you  simply 
of  what  occurred  here  in  Missouri  only  twenty  years 
ago  when  the  Republican  party  was  triumphant  in 
this  State,  and  when  the  laws  it  put  upon  the  statute 
books  were  being  enforced  by  the  officers  of  its  own 
choosing.  I  have  been  speaking  of  the  same  period 
in  our  own  history  to  which  Major  Warner  referred, 
and  of  the  same  political  party  whose  achievements 
Major  Warner  applauded.  I  thought,  since  the 


Charles  E.  Fenner  139 

Major  had  invited  comparison  and  indulged  in  his 
torical  reminiscence,  the  young  men  of  the  State 
should  know  something  more  of  the  past  than  he 
seemed  disposed  to  give  them.  I  thought  I  would 
simply  tear  the  veil  away  and  let  all  the  ghastly 
skeletons  out. 


JUSTICE  TO  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

CHARLES  E.  FENNER 
Of  the  New  Orleans  (La.)  Bar 

[The  concluding  part  of  an  oration  on  the  Life  and  Ser 
vices  of  Jefferson  Davis,  delivered  before  the  Memorial 
Association  of  New  Orleans,  June  3,  1901.  Judge  Fenner 
was  the  lifelong  friend  of  Jefferson  Davis,  and  at  the  for 
mer's  home  the  lamented  chieftan  of  the  Confederacy 
breathed  his  last.] 

The  treatment  of  which  Jefferson  Davis  was  made 
the  victim  after  his  capture  is  a  chapter  which  all 
good  men  would  like  to  see  blotted  from  the  history 
of  the  Republic.  Something  is  to  be  forgiven  to  the 
intensity  of  excitement  and  resentment  which  pre 
vailed  at  that  time.  Let  us  cast  the  mantle  of  chari 
table  silence  over  the  indignities,  humiliations,  and 
unnecessary  cruelties  which  for  many  months  were 
visited  upon  a  sick,  helpless,  and  defenseless  prisoner. 
The  memory  of  them  can  serve  no  purpose  except  to 
illustrate  the  heroic  fortitude  and  undaunted  spirit  of 
their  victim. 

But  there  were  other  injuries  far  worse  than  any 
mere  physical  tortures,  which  justice  demands  should 
not  be  left  unnoticed.  All  the  efforts  of  the  powers 
that  were  to  "make  treason  odious"  were  concentrated 
upon  the  defenseless  head  of  Jefferson  Davis.  The 
flood-gates  of  slander  and  obloquy  were  opened  wide 
upon  him.  His  character  was  distorted  and  vilified; 


!40  Oratory  of  the  South 

he  was  painted  as  a  monster  of  cruelty  and  cowardice, 
a  vile  conspirator  who  plotted  the  ruin  of  his  country 
and  deluged  a  continent  in  blood,  with  no  better 
motive  than  to  gratify  a  criminal  ambition  and  to 
advance  his  personal  interests.  He  was  charged  with 
being  the  instigator  and  abettor  of  the  murder  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  with  all  the  malignity,  but  without  the 
courage,  of  the  actual  assassin.  He  was  accused  of 
intentional  and  inhuman  cruelty  to  defenseless  prison 
ers.  He  was  charged  with  having  basely  rifled  the 
treasure  chests  of  the  Confederacy,  and  appropriating 
them  to  his  private  emolument. 

All  who  knew  Mr.  Davis,  all  who  will  take  the 
slightest  pains  to  study  the  ample  record  of  his  life 
and  character,  must  view  such  charges  with  peculiar 
horror  and  indignation. 

Jefferson  Davis  undoubtedly  had  his  faults,  as  who 
has  not;  but  they  were  the  faults  of  an  open  and 
generous  nature.  He  had  strong  friendships  and 
violent  prejudices  for  individuals.  He  was,  perhaps, 
too  blind  to  the  shortcomings  of  his  friends  and  too 
intolerant  to  those  of  his  enemies.  But  whatever 
may  be  said  of  him,  he  was,  from  top  to  toe,  a  gentle 
man,  in  the  highest  acceptation  of  that  word.  He 
had  a  fine  and  delicate  sense  of  honor,  which  resented 
the  slightest  stain  upon  it,  as  he  would  a  blow  in  the 
face.  He  had  a  chivalric  courage,  written  in  his 
martial  bearing,  and  in  his  aquiline  and  defiant  coun 
tenance,  which  shirked  no  conflict,  but  which  always 
fought  in  the  open,  and  scorned  all  indirect  or  un 
derhand  advantage.  He  had,  as  is  common  with 
men  of  that  type,  a  romantic  tenderness  for  the  weak 
and  the  dependent,  as  illustrated  by  the  exquisite  and 
inimitable  courtesy  and  deference  of  his  bearing 
toward  women,  by  his  delight  in  the  society  of  chil 
dren,  and  by  his  gentle,  just,  and  humane  treatment 
of  his  numerous  slaves,  whose  respect  and  allegiance 


Charles  E.  Feiiner  141 

stood  unshaken  even  after  they  became  free.  His 
whole  public  life  was  pitched  on  the  highest  plane  of 
devotion  to  duty  and  of  inflexible  adherence  to  prin 
ciple.  It  was,  perhaps,  his  defect  as  a  statesman  that 
he  scorned  too  much  the  politician's  art,  and  shrunk 
too  sensitively  from  everything  which  involved  a 
sacrifice  of  principle  to  expediency.  In  private  life 
he  was  a  man  whose  word  was  ever  his  bond,  scru 
pulously  faithful  to  every  engagement,  sensitively  re 
gardful  of  his  obligations  and  the  rights  of  others, 
with  a  lofty  contempt  of  all  sordid  considerations. 

Such  was  the  man  against  whom  an  angry  and 
resentful  government  fulminated  charges  of  the  most 
despicable  and  cowardly  crimes,  and  upon  whom  it 
set  "all  the  little  dogs,  Tray,  Blanche,  and  Sweet 
heart,"  to  worry  at  his  heels,  and  with  the  teeth  of 
their  envenomed  slander  to  tear  to  shreds  the  fair 
mantle  of  his  unblemished  reputation.  The  helpless 
prisoner,  though  subjected  to  the  anguish  of  knowing 
of  these  wanton  assaults,  was  kept  with  closed  mouth, 
forbidden  to  utter  a  word  in  his  own  defense.  He 
bore  them  with  lofty  contempt,  and  with  a  philosophy 
springing  from  his  serene  confidence  that  soon  or  late 
triumphant  truth  would  vindicate  his  name. 

The  time  came  when  the  sleeping  public  conscience 
was  aroused  to  a  sense  of  the  rank  injustice  of  hold 
ing  in  imprisonment  a  man  charged  with  such  heinous 
crimes,  not  only  without  a  trial,  but  without  even  an 
indictment  or  arraignment  at  the  bar  of  justice. 
Such  men  as  Horace  Greely,  Gerritt  Smith,  John  A. 
Andrews,  and  others  of  the  men  who  had  been  his  bit 
terest  political  foes  took  up  his  case  and  determined 
that  justice  should  be  done.  They  investigated 
the  pretended  evidence  on  which  it  was  claimed  that 
he  was  implicated  in  the  odious  crimes  with  which  he 
had  been  charged.  They  convinced  themselves,  and 
openly  proclaimed  to  the  world  their  conviction,  that 


142  Oratory  of  the  South 

there  was  not  the  slightest  ground  for  such  charges. 
Even  Thaddeus  Stephens,  who  would  no  doubt  gladly 
have  seen  Jefferson  Davis  hanged  for  high  treason, 
did  not  hesitate  his  confidence  that  he  was  innocent 
of  all  the  other  charges,  saying  that  he  knew  Jefferson 
Davis,  and  that,  whatever  else  might  be  said  of  him, 
he  was  a  gentleman  incapable  of  such  crimes.  There 
was  not  even  a  pretense  of  persistence  in  those  charges. 
They  were  absolutely  abandoned.  He  was  indicted 
for  treason,  a  purely  political  crime.  He  was  liber 
ated  from  imprisonment  on  a  bond  signed  by  Horace 
Greeley,  Gerritt  Smith,  and  Commodore  Vanderbilt. 
The  government  never  ventured  to  press  the  case  to 
trial.  At  the  ensuing  term  of  court  a  nolle  prosequi 
was  entered,  and  Jefferson  Davis  passed  a  free  man 
into  the  body  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

But,  although  thus  completely  vindicated,  the  filthy 
streams  of  slander  and  abuse,  which  so  long  flowed 
unrestrained  over  his  fair  name  and  fame,  were  not 
turned  aside  without  leaving  their  foul  slime  behind 
them.  Jefferson  Davis  had  come  to  be  regarded  by 
the  mass  of  the  Northern  people  as  what  they  called 
the  "arch  traitor";  the  "raw  head  and  bloody  bones" 
of  wicked  rebellion;  the  man  responsible  to  widows 
for  their  slaughtered  husbands,  to  orphans  for  their 
lost  fathers,  to  parents  for  murdered  sons — the  very 
embodiment  of  hate  and  evil  and  bloody  crime. 
Even  when  the  returning  tide  of  reason  and  justice 
began  to  flow,  when  juster  and  more  rational  views  of 
the  war  and  of  the  participants  began  to  prevail, 
when  the  long  silent  chords  of  fraternity  began  to 
vibrate  with  the  music  of  renewed  love  and  generosity, 
swelling  into  a  louder  anthem,  until  it  drowned  the 
insensate  shrieks  of  hate  and  discord, — even  then  Jef 
ferson  Davis  was  still  left  in  solitary  exclusion  from 
the  abundant  bounty  of  mutual  charity  and  forgive 
ness.  Like  a  red  flag  shaken  in  the  face  of  an  angry 


Charles  E.  Fenner  143 

bull,  the  mention  of  his  name  still  remained  a  note 
of  discord,  which  aroused  anew  the  almost  forgotten 
frenzy  of  the  past.  Even  the  Southern  people,  with 
all  their  courage,  almost  learned  to  speak  his  name 
with  bated  breath,  and  to  confine  within  the  private 
recesses  of  their  own  hearts  the  unbounded  sympathy, 
love,  and  admiration  which  they  felt  for  their  un 
daunted  leader,  who  had  been  made  the  vicarious 
sufferer  for  faults,  if  faults  they  were,  which  he  only 
shared  in  common  with  each  and  every  one  of  them, 
and  who  bore  the  whole  burden  of  which  they  had 
been  relieved  with  such  eager  gladness  in  their  re 
lief  and  with  such  unflinching  fortitude. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States  had  the  same  feeling  toward  Abraham  Lin 
coln  which  the  Northern  people  entertained  toward 
Jefferson  Davis,  and  which  still  lingers  in  the  minds 
of  many  of  them.  But  how  completely  have  those 
sentiments,  in  the  case  of  Lincoln,  passed  away  and 
been  forgotten! 

Justice  is  the  most  persistent  and  irrepressible  of 
human  voices.  It  may  be  smothered  for  a  time  by 
passion  and  prejudice,  it  may  be  temporarily  drowned 
by  the  uproar  of  calumny  and  denunciation;  but  it 
still  clamors  for  hearing,  and  the  time  surely  comes 
when  it  must  and  will  be  heard.  It  took  more  than 
a  century  and  a  half  to  bring  the  people  of  England 
to  the  point  of  doing  justice  to  Oliver  Cromwell.  We 
live  faster  in  these  days.  More  than  a  generation  has 
passed  since  the  Confederate  flag  was  folded  to  its 
eternal  rest.  Death,  the  great  leveler  which  sum 
mons  each  of  us  in  his  turn  to  the  bar  of  judgment, 
and  from  whose  dread  presence  malice  and  all  un- 
charitableness  shrink  rebuked,  has  long  since  laid  his 
icy  fingers  on  all  that  was  mortal  of  Jefferson  Davis. 
Has  not  the  time  arrived  for  justice  to  his  memory? 

With  heart  overflowing  with  patriotic  devotion  to 


144  Oratory  of  the  South 

our  common  country,  keenly  responsive  to  the  spirit 
of  love  and  fraternity  which  has  grown  up  between 
all  sections  of  our  people,  devoutly  thankful  to  that 
divine  Providence  which  has  so  guided  the  hearts  of 
men  and  shaped  the  current  of  events  that  out  of  the 
wreck  and  ruin  of  desperate  conflict  we  have  saved 
the  essential  principles  of  constitutional  liberty  and 
of  equal  rights  of  citizenship,  and  have  re-established 
foundations  on  which,  if  faithfully  guarded  and  pre 
served,  the  glorious  destinies  of  the  American  repub 
lic  may  be  triumphantly  accomplished, — I  stand  here 
to-day  to  claim  that  justice  from  the  whole  people  of 
our  country,  North  as  well  as  South, — justice,  only 
justice, — justice  to  the  memory  of  a  man  who  illus 
trated  the  history  of  two  nations  by  valor  in  battle, 
wisdom  in  counsel,  eloquence  in  debate,  temperance 
in  triumph,  and  inexpugnable  fortitude  in  adversity — 
justice  to  the  memory  of  a  man  who,  when  the  mists 
of  passion  and  prejudice  shall  have  passed  away,  his 
tory  must  undoubtedly  rank  as  one  of  the  greatest 
Americans. 

I  cannot  close  this  appeal  more  appropriately  or 
enforce  it  more  strongly  than  by  quoting  the  conclud 
ing  paragraph  of  his  great  work  on  "The  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,"  which  was 
his  historical  and  political  testament  to  his  people: 

"In  asserting  the  right  of  secession,  it  has  not  been 
my  wish  to  incite  to  its  exercise.  I  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  war  showed  it  to  be  impracticable,  but  this 
did  not  prove  it  to  be  wrong,  and  now  that  it  may 
not  be  again  attempted,  and  that  the  Union  may  pro 
mote  the  general  welfare,  it  is  needful  that  the  truth, 
the  whole  truth,  should  be  known,  so  that  crimination 
and  recrimination  should  forever  cease,  and  then,  on 
the  basis  of  fraternity  and  faithful  regard  for  the 
rights  of  the  States,  there  may  be  written  on  the  arch 
of  the  Union,  Esto  Perpetua" 


Bennett  H.  Young  145 

TRIBUTE  TO  WINNIE  DAVIS 

BENNETT  H.  YOUNG 

Of  the  Louisville   (Ky.)   Bar;    editor  of  "Kentucky  Elo-- 
quence"  from  which  this  section  is  taken 

[Condensed  from  a  eulogy  delivered  before  the  United 
Confederate  Veterans'  Association,  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 
May  n,  1899-] 

The  most  distinguished  divine  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  preaching  the  funeral  sermon  of  Louis 
XIV,  the  greatest  of  all  French  rulers,  as  he  gazed 
upon  the  deceased  king,  cold,  pallid,  powerless,  ex 
pressionless,  lifted  his  hands  to  heaven  and,  with  tears 
streaming  down  his  cheeks,  exclaimed:  "There  is 
nothing  great  but  God."  And,  comrades,  as  we  re 
call  the  beautiful,  beloved,  and  winsome  face  and 
form  of  "The  Daughter  of  the  Confederacy,"  as  she 
stood  in  our  presence  less  than  a  year  ago  at  Atlanta, 
and  with  joy  and  pride  received  anew  our  knightly  ad 
miration  and  fealty,  and  as  we  now  realize  that  she 
is  no  more,  but  sleeps  in  death,  we,  too,  in  pathetic 
and  profoundest  sorrow,  turn  our  eyes  heavenward 
and  cry  out:  "God  alone  is  great." 

The  practical  spirit  of  the  present  times  would  say 
that  the  age  of  chivalry  is  gone;  but,  as  the  repre 
sentatives  and  descendants  of  an  ever-chivalrous 
people,  we  can  confidently  challenge  this  coarse  con 
clusion, — the  outgrowth  of  a  period  marked  by  the 
exaltation  of  money  and  money-getting, — and  point 
to  the  love  of  Southern  men  for  this  child  whom  il 
lustrious  warriors  adopted  and  were  proud  to  claim 
as  their  own,  and  confidently  aver  that,  whatever  may 
be  said  of  others,  in  the  hearts  of  Confederate  sol 
diers  there  still  burns  with  unquenchable  flame  and 
unconquerable  force  that  spirit  which  makes  men  gal 
lant,  heroic,  and  true. 


10 


146  Oratory  of  the  South 

There  are  occasions  when  the  hush  and  solemnity 
of  death  become  intensest  eloquence,  and  speak  with 
a  pathos  and  power  that  are  simply  immeasurable. 
No  exhibition  ever  witnessed  in  any  land  is  more 
touching,  no  emotion  ever  aroused  in  human  heart 
more  magnanimous,  no  offering  more  unselfish,  no  at 
tachment  more  generous,  than  this  affection  Confed 
erate  veterans  tendered  in  life,  and  now  declare  in 
death,  for  the  daughter  of  Jefferson  Davis. 

Only  a  few  brief  months  have  elapsed  since,  in  the 
fullness  of  a  matured  womanhood,  in  the  splendor 
of  a  superb  filial  consecration,  and  with  a  simple  and 
unaffected  appreciation,  for  the  last  time  she  received 
the  enthusiastic  cheers  and  unqualified  adoration  of 
her  Confederate  fathers  and  friends;  and  in  all  that 
vast  assemblage  that  greeted  her  as  only  Confederate 
soldiers  could  greet,  there  was  not  a  single  heart 
which  failed  to  respond  to  that  intense  rapture  and 
that  impassioned  delight  her  welcome  presence  always 
evoked. 

Born  amid  the  conflicts  of  the  mightiest  war  the 
world  has  ever  witnessed,  cradled  within  the  sound 
of  the  cannon's  roar,  and  often  awakened  from  sleep 
by  the  rattle  of  the  musketry  which  defended  the 
capital  of  the  country  for  which  her  father  offered 
the  costliest  sacrifice  of  all  those  who  defended  its 
life  and  its  name;  in  her  very  infancy  made  to  feel 
the  deepest  grief  in  the  misfortunes  and  indignities 
heaped  upon  him  who  was  the  President  of  the  na 
tion  the  South  so  heroically  struggled  to  maintain, 
she  had  experiences  which  have  only  come  into  one 
life  during  all  the  ages  of  the  world.  No  other 
woman  in  the  history  of  the  world  ever  held  such 
a  place  as  our  Daughter  of  the  Confederacy.  The 
adopted  child  and  idol  of  those  who  followed  Lee, 
Jackson,  the  Johnstons,  Forrest,  Stuart,  and  Morgan, 
she  had  all  that  noblest  sentiment,  faithfulest  loyalty, 


Bennett  H.  Young  147 

and  most  chivalrous  devotion  could  bestow,  and 
neither  affection  nor  ambition  could  add  anything  to 
the  superb  crown  which  Confederates  have  placed  on 
her  brow. 

Earth  can  yield  no  purer  and  no  more  generous 
love  than  that  which  the  men  and  women  of  the  Con 
federacy  bore  Winnie  Davis.  It  caught  the  impress 
of  heavenly  touch  and  felt  the  mark  of  an  angelic 
birth.  No  selfishness  tarnished  its  resplendent  bright 
ness,  no  insincerity  marred  its  exceeding  tenderness, 
no  limit  prescribed  its  inexpressible  gentleness,  and 
no  figures  could  calculate  its  immeasurable  depths. 
It  was  a  sentiment,  but  it  was  exalting,  ennobling,  ele 
vating,  and  in  every  way  worthy  of  the  most  heroic 
and  sublimest  of  human  emotions. 

The  ordinary  loves  of  human  souls  wax  and  wane ; 
they  are  not  always  equal  in  their  strength  and  flow, 
but  this  love  to  "Our  Daughter"  knew  no  decrease 
in  its  irresistible  and  unchanging  current.  Her  pres 
ence  was  not  needful  to  quicken  its  impulses,  and  her 
absence  did  not  slacken  its  fervor.  As  she  stood 
alone  in  the  splendor  of  her  position  as  the  only 
Daughter  of  the  Confederacy,  she  had  no  cause  to 
fear  rivalry  and  never  any  reason  to  question  the  loy 
alty  of  the  hearts  who  claimed  her  as  their  child. 

When  the  shadows  of  time  were  lengthening  about 
the  heart  and  home  of  Jefferson  Davis,  and  the  dim, 
fading  light,  death's  forerunner,  cast  its  softening 
rays  across  the  paths  he  must  tread;  when  the  warn 
ing  echoes  from  the  immortal  land  were  caught  by 
the  hills  about  his  mortal  abode;  when  the  mystic 
lore  of  coming  events  which  deepens  with  life's  sunset 
whispered  in  the  ear  of  the  patient  and  heroic  father 
that  the  parting  of  ways  for  him  and  his  beloved 
child  was  only  a  little  way  ahead,  he  bethought  him 
of  her  future,  and,  with  unquestioning  faith  and  un- 


148  Oratory  of  the  South 

wavering  confidence,  he  committed  her  protection  and 
care  to  the  people  he  had  loved  so  well. 

The  misfortunes  which  came  to  him  as  the  head 
of  the  Confederate  States  left  him  no  store  of  wealth 
from  which  to  provide  endowment  to  shield  from 
want,  or  to  construct  mausoleum  to  honor  in  death; 
but  he  devised  her,  as  his  richest  and  noblest  legacy, 
to  a  generous  nation.  She  was  to  him  of  value  which 
was  incomparable  with  gold  or  costliest  gem.  That 
absolute  trust  in  the  generosity  of  Southern  people 
has  met  worthiest  response.  Loved,  honored,  adored 
in  her  life,  her  sisters  of  the  Confederacy,  in  her 
death,  have  builded  her  monument,  which,  though 
simple  in  its  structure,  is  voiceful  of  a  love  and  admi 
ration  which  will  abide  forever. 

She  rests  in  the  bosom  of  the  State  which  gave  her 
birth  and  which,  at  the  end,  offered  her  repose  amid 
the  tombs  of  her  most  illustrious  children.  On  the 
banks  of  the  James  River,  close  to  where,  nearly  three 
hundred  years  ago,  came  the  Cavalier,  imparting  to 
Southern  manhood  the  uplifting  power  of  his  genius, 
his  courage,  and  his  chivalry,  they  have  given  her 
lasting  sepulcher.  The  breezes  from  every  hillside, 
valley,  and  mountain  of  the  Southland  shall  bear 
tenderest  benedictions  to  her  tomb,  and  the  rippling 
waters  of  the  stream  beside  which  she  rests — fresh 
from  the  mountain  tops  which  pierce  the  blue  skies 
overhanging  the  mighty  Alleghanies — shall  murmur 
softest  requiem  by  her  grave ;  and,  as  these  flow  into 
the  mighty  ocean,  they  will  be  taken  up  by  the  chain- 
less  winds  which  sweep  with  unbroken  power  the  face 
of  the  great  deep  and,  in  harmonious  melody,  tell  the 
story  to  all  the  world  of  the  marvelous  and  wondrous 
love  of  the  people  of  the  South  for  Winnie  Davis, 
"The  Daughter  of  the  Confederacy." 


John  W.  Daniel  149 

A  FOLLOWER  OF  LEE 

JOHN  W.  DANIEL 
United  States  Senator  from  Virginia 

[Extract  from  an  oration  delivered  at  the  unveiling  of 
the  recumbent  figure  of  General  Lee,  at  Washington  and 
Lee  University,  Lexington,  Va.,  June  28,  1883.] 

There  was  no  happier  or  lovelier  home  than  that 
of  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee  in  the  spring  of  1861, 
when  for  the  first  time  its  threshold  was  darkened 
with  the  omens  of  civil  war.  Crowning  the  green 
slopes  of  the  Virginia  hills  that  overlook  the  Poto 
mac,  and  embowered  in  stately  trees,  stood  the  ven 
erable  mansion  of  Arlington,  facing  a  prospect  of 
varied  and  imposing  beauty. 

So  situated  was  Colonel  Lee  in  the  spring  of  1861, 
upon  the  verge  of  the  momentous  revolution  of  which 
he  became  so  mighty  a  pillar  and  so  glorious  a  chief 
tain.  How  can  we  estimate  the  sacrifice  he  made  to 
take  up  arms  against  the  Union?  Lee  was  emphat 
ically  a  Union  man;  and  Virginia,  to  the  crisis  of 
dissolution,  was  a  Union  State.  He  loved  the  Union 
with  a  soldier's  ardent  loyalty  to  the  government  he 
served  and  with  a  patriot's  faith  and  hope  in  the  in 
stitutions  of  his  country.  In  January,  1861,  Colonel 
Lee,  then  with  his  regiment  in  Texas,  wrote  to  his 
son :  "As  an  American  citizen,  I  take  great  pride  in 
my  country,  her  prosperity  and  institutions;  and  yet 
I  would  defend  my  State  were  her  rights  invaded. 
But  I  can  anticipate  no  greater  calamity  to  the  coun 
try  than  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  Secession  is 
nothing  but  revolution.  ...  If  the  Union  is 
dissolved,  I  shall  return  to  my  native  State  and  share 
the  miseries  of  my  people  and,  save  in  defense,  will 
draw  my  sword  on  none." 

The  war-cloud  lowered.    On  April  15  came  Presi- 


150  Oratory  of  the  South 

dent  Lincoln's  proclamation  for  seventy-five  thou 
sand  men.  This  proclamation  determined  Virginia's 
course,  and  an  ordinance  of  secession  was  passed. 
War  had  come. 

"Under  which  flag?"  was  the  sternly  pathetic 
question  that  Lee  must  now  answer.  On  the  one 
hand  Virginia,  now  in  the  fore-front  of  a  scarcely 
organized  revolution,  summoned  him  to  share  her 
lot  in  the  perilous  adventure.  The  young  Confeder 
acy  is  without  an  army;  there  is  no  navy,  no  cur 
rency.  There  is  little  but  a  meager  and  widely  scat 
tered  population,  for  the  most  part  men  of  the  field, 
the  prairie,  the  forest,  and  the  mountain,  ready  to 
stand  the  hazard  of  an  audacious  endeavor.  Did  he 
fail,  his  beloved  State  would  be  trampled  in  the  mire 
of  the  ways ;  his  people  would  be  captives,  their  very 
slaves  their  masters;  and  he — if  of  himself  he 
thought  at  all — he,  mayhap,  may  have  seen  in  the 
dim  perspective  the  shadow  of  the  dungeon  or  the 
scaffold. 

On  the  other  hand  stands  the  foremost  and  most 
powerful  republic  of  the  earth.  Its  regular  army 
and  its  myriad  volunteers  rush  to  do  its  bidding.  Its 
capital  lies  in  sight  of  his  chamber  window,  and  its 
guns  bear  on  the  portals  of  his  home.  A  messenger 
comes  from  its  President  and  from  General  Scott, 
Commander-in-Chief  of  its  army,  to  tender  him  su 
preme  command  of  its  forces.  No  man  could  have 
undergone  a  more  trying  ordeal  or  met  it  with  a 
higher  spirit  of  heroic  self-sacrifice  since  the  Son  of 
Man  stood  upon  the  mount,  saw  "all  the  kingdoms 
of  earth  and  the  glory  thereof,"  and  turned  away 
from  them  to  the  agony  of  Gethsemane. 

To  the  statesman,  Mr.  Francis  P.  Blair,  who 
brought  him  the  tender  of  supreme  command,  Lee 
answered,  "Mr.  Blair,  I  look  upon  secession  as  an 
archy.  If  I  owned  the  four  million  slaves  in  the 


John  W.  Daniel  151 

South  I  would  sacrifice  them  all  to  the  Union.     But 
how  can  I  draw  my  sword  against  Virginia?" 

Draw  his  sword  against  Virginia?  Perish  the 
thought !  Over  all  the  voices  that  called  he  heard  the 
still  small  voice  that  ever  whispers  to  the  soul  of  the 
spot  that  gave  it  birth;  and  over  every  ambitious 
dream  there  rose  the  face  of  the  angel  that  guards 
the  door  of  home. 

I  pause  not  here  to  defend  the  course  of  General 
Lee.  In  the  supreme  moments  of  national  life,  as  in 
the  lives  of  individuals,  the  actor  must  resolve  and 
act  within  himself  alone.  The  Southern  States  acted 
for  themselves — the  Northern  States  for  themselves 
— Virginia  for  herself.  And  when  the  lines  of 
battle  formed  Lee  took  his  place  in  the  line  beside 
his  people,  his  kindred,  his  children,  his  home.  Let 
his  defense  rest  on  this  fact  alone.  Nature  speaks 
it.  Nothing  can  strengthen  it.  Nothing  can  weaken 
it.  The  historian  may  compile ;  the  casuist  may  dis 
sect  ;  the  statesman  may  expatiate ;  the  advocate  may 
plead;  the  jurist  may  expound;  but,  after  all,  there 
can  be  no  stronger  and  tenderer  tie  than  that  which 
binds  the  faithful  heart  to  kindred  and  home.  And 
on  that  tie — stretching  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
spanning  the  heavens,  and  riveted  through  eternity 
to  the  throne  of  God  on  high,  and  underneath  in  the 
souls  of  good  men  and  true — on  that  tie  rests,  stain 
less  and  immortal,  the  fame  of  Robert  E.  Lee. 

In  personal  appearance  General  Lee  was  a  man 
whom  once  to  see  was  ever  to  remember.  His  figure 
was  tall,  erect,  well  proportioned,  lithe,  and  graceful. 
A  fine  head,  with  broad,  uplifted  brows,  and  features 
boldly  yet  delicately  chiseled,  bore  the  aspect  of  one 
born  to  command.  His  whole  countenance  bespoke 
alike  a  powerful  mind  and  an  indomitable  will,  yet 
beamed  with  charity,  benevolence,  and  gentleness.  In 
his  manners  quiet,  reserve,  unaffected  courtesy,  and 


152  Oratory  of  the  South 

native  dignity  made  manifest  the  character  of  one 
who  can  only  be  described  by  the  name  of  gentleman. 
And  taken  all  in  all,  his  presence  possessed  that  grave 
and  simple  majesty  which  commanded  instant  rever 
ence  and  repressed  familiarity;  and  yet  so  charmed 
by  a  certain  modesty  and  gracious  deference,  that  rev 
erence  and  confidence  were  ever  ready  to  kindle  into 
affection.  It  was  impossible  to  look  upon  him  and 
not  to  recognize  at  a  glance  that  in  him  nature  gave 
assurance  of  a  man  created  to  be  great  and  good. 

Mounted  in  the  field  and  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
a  glimpse  of  Lee  was  an  inspiration.  His  figure  was 
as  distinctive  as  that  of  Napoleon.  The  black  slouch 
hat,  the  cavalry  boots,  the  dark  cape,  the  plain  gray 
coat  without  an  ornament  but  the  three  stars  on  the 
collar,  the  calm,  victorious  face,  the  splendid,  manly 
figure  on  the  gray  war  horse, — he  looked  every  inch 
the  true  knight,  the  grand,  invincible  champion  of  a 
great  principle. 

The  men  who  wrested  victory  from  his  little  band 
stood  wonder-stricken  and  abashed  when  they  saw 
how  few  were  those  who  dared  oppose  them,  and 
generous  admiration  burst  into  spontaneous  tribute 
to  the  splendid  leader  who  bore  defeat  with  the  quiet 
resignation  of  a  hero.  The  men  who  fought  under 
him  never  revered  or  loved  him  more  than  on  the  day 
he  sheathed  his  sword.  Had  he  but  said  the  word, 
they  would  have  died  for  honor.  It  was  because  he 
said  the  word  that  they  resolved  to  live  for  duty. 

Plato  congratulated  himself,  first,  that  he  was  born 
a  man;  second,  that  he  had  the  happiness  of  being 
a  Greek;  and,  third,  that  he  was  a  contemporary  of 
Sophocles.  And  in  this  audience  to-day,  and  here 
and  there  the  wide  world  over,  is  many  a  one  who 
wore  the  gray  who  rejoices  that  he  was  born  a  man 
to  do  a  man's  part  for  his  suffering  country;  that  he 
had  the  glory  of  being  a  Confederate ;  and  who  feels 


Augustus  O.  Stanley  153 

a  justly  proud  and  glowing  consciousness  in  his 
bosom  when  he  says  unto  himself:  "I  was  a  follower 
of  Robert  E.  Lee.  I  was  a  soldier  in  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia." 

Come  we  then  to-day  in  loyal  love  to  sanctify  our 
memories,  to  purify  our  hopes,  to  make  strong  all 
good  intent  by  communion  with  the  spirit  of  him  who, 
being  dead,  yet  speaketh.  Let  us  crown  his  tomb 
with  the  oak,  the  emblem  of  his  strength,  and  with 
the  laurel,  the  emblem  of  his  glory.  And  as  we  seem 
to  gaze  once  more  on  him  we  loved  and  hailed  as 
Chief,  the  tranquil  face  is  clothed  with  heaven's  light, 
and  the  mute  lips  seem  eloquent  with  the  message  that 
in  life  he  spoke: 

"There  is  a  true  glory  and  a  true  honor;  the  glory 
of  duty  done,  the  honor  of  the  integrity  of  principle." 


LEE  AND  APPOMATTOX 

AUGUSTUS  O.  STANLEY 
Congressman  from  Kentucky 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Hamilton 
Club,  Chicago,  April  22,  1907,  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
celebration  of  "Appomattox  Day."] 

Right  or  wrong,  it  matters  little  now,  Robert  E. 
Lee  believed  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  Southern 
States,  and  modestly  offered  himself  to  his  country 
men  and  his  Commonwealth.  His  espousal  of  the 
cause  of  the  Confederacy  was  hailed  with  delight; 
he  was  showered  with  honors  and  entrusted  with  high 
command.  He  accepted  the  sword  tendered  him 
with  the  terseness  of  a  soldier,  the  ardor  of  a  patriot, 
and  the  humility  of  a  Christian. 

How  well  and  how  long  he  defended  the  be 
leaguered  capital  of  the  Confederacy  I  need  not  re- 


154  Oratory  of  the  South 

late;  history  has  yet  to  do  full  justice  to  the  miracles 
of  his  genius  and  the  prodigies  of  his  valor.  McClel- 
lan,  Pope,  Burnside,  and  Hooker,  each  in  turn  hurled 
his  mighty  and  puissant  hosts  against  that  grim,  gray 
line  known  as  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  and 
each  in  turn  reeled,  staggering  and  bleeding,  from 
the  deadly  encounter.  I  need  not  speak  of  Second 
Manassas,  Harper's  Ferry,  Fredericksburg,  or  Chan- 
cellorsville — those  mighty  monuments  to  his  prowess 
and  his  glory  are  deathless  and  eternal  as  the  red 
annals  of  war.  In  the  flush  of  triumph,  in  the  wild 
tumult  of  victory,  the  conqueror  still  loomed  tower- 
like  above  his  conquests. 

Great  in  victory,  he  was  greater  still  in  defeat.  Be 
hold  him  after  the  three  days'  fight  at  Gettysburg, 
where  first  he  faced  disaster,  with  untold  magnan 
imity  assuming  all  the  responsibility  for  that  fateful 
day — attributable  to  another's  error  or  another's 
fault;  smiling  and  tranquil,  he  rides  among  his  shat 
tered  and  disordered  columns,  rising  above  the  terror 
and  turmoil  around  him,  sublime,  serene,  undaunted; 
they  halt  at  his  command  and  rally  to  the  magic  of  his 
call.  Chaos  becomes  order  and  the  Army  of  North 
ern  Virginia  wheels  about  in  serried  array,  its  spirit 
unbroken  and  its  faith  in  its  mighty  chief  unaltered 
and  unalterable. 

In  the  meantime  there  had  arisen  in  the  West  a 
soldier,  broad  in  conception,  patient  and  capable  in 
action,  rigid  and  changeless  as  fate  in  his  invincible 
purpose.  He  had  twice  bisected  the  Confederacy. 
Sherman,  leaving  desolation  in  his  wake,  was  march 
ing  unimpeded  toward  the  sea.  On  all  sides,  obedient 
to  his  masterful  design,  there  was  converging  about 
the  doomed  Virginians  a  sinister  and  rigid  cordon, 
bristling  with  bayonets,  indifferent  to  slaughter  and 
indomitable  in  its  purpose,  "through  the  southwest 
ern  mountain  passes,  through  the  gates  of  the  lower 


Augustus  O.  Stanley  155 

valley,  from  the  battle-scarred  vales  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock,  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  waters 
of  the  James,  came  the  serried  hosts  on  field  and 
flood." 

Lee  rallied  the  wreck  of  his  gallant  army  for  the 
last  encounter,  but  neither  genius  nor  valor  could 
avail — 

"Cannon  to  right  of  them, 

Cannon  to  left  of  them, 

Cannon  in  front  of  them, 

Volleyed  and  thundered." 

The  Confederate  lines,  extending  for  thirty  miles, 
thinned  and  attenuated,  clutched  the  earth  like  a  wild 
beast,  and  in  the  teeth  of  impending  doom  fought  on, 
fierce  and  determined.  At  last  surrounded  in  the 
open  plain,  barefooted,  tattered,  pinched  with  hunger, 
gaunt  from  famine,  staggering  from  sleeplessness  and 
exhaustion,  the  ghastly  wraith  of  the  Army  of  North 
ern  Virginia,  its  last  ration  consumed  and  its  last 
round  of  ammunition  exhausted,  bowed  to  the  inevit 
able. 

Less  than  eight  thousand  ragged  veterans  dropped 
their  bright  muskets  from  nerveless  hands  when 
Lee  tendered  his  stainless  sword  to  the  most  determ 
ined  foe  and  the  most  magnanimous  conqueror  of 
the  age. 

I  rejoice  that  to-night,  upon  the  anniversary  of  that 
fateful  day,  the  South  contemplates  the  scene  with 
out  shame,  and  the  North  without  exultation. 

The  modest  magnanimity  of  the  Federal  chief 
made  of  Appomattox  more  than  a  surrender — it  was 
reconciliation.  Even  in  the  flush  of  his  great  tri 
umph  he  remembered  with  tender  consideration  the 
vanquished  foe.  All  salutes  and  demonstrations  cal 
culated  to  wound  the  pride  or  harrow  the  feelings 
of  the  fallen  Conferedates  were  forbidden;  he  re- 


156  Oratory  of  the  South 

minded  his  veterans  that  their  foes  of  yesterday 
would  be  their  countrymen  of  to-morrow. 

Nor  shall  the  South  forget  that  when  a  Federal 
grand  jury  sought  to  disregard  the  soldier's  parole, 
and  to  stain  that  sword,  the  trophy  of  his  valor  and 
his  prowess,  he  defended  the  honor  and  the  life  of  his 
mighty  captive  with  the  same  grim  determination 
with  which  he  had  maintained  the  Union,  and  neither 
Senates  nor  Presidents  could  shake  or  alter  his  fixed 
resolve.  At  the  bier  of  Grant  a  reunited  nation 
stood,  with  uncovered  head,  while  veterans,  blue  and 
gray,  with  tearful  eyes  and  tender  hands  laid  him  to 
rest. 

After  the  lapse  of  half  a  century  its  cruel  wounds 
all  healed,  its  battle-scarred  plains  covered  with  ver 
dure,  and  five  hundred  thousand  graves  embowered 
in  flowers, — North  and  South  alike, — we  look  back 
upon  that  mighty  and  fraternal  strife  with  a  feeling 
of  sadness  and  a  sense  of  infinite  regret. 

Many  are  the  reasons  assigned  for  this  conflict  by 
statesmen  and  historians,  yet  they  are  all  but  the  re 
sults  of  the  one  great  cause — the  North  had  ceased 
to  know  the  South,  and  the  South  was  a  stranger  to 
the  North.  It  is  impossible  to  long  misunderstand 
a  good  man  if  you  know  him;  antagonism  between 
one  section  of  this  country  and  another  is  impossible 
if  there  is  intercourse  between  these  sections.  Then 
and  now  we  were  brothers  all. 

North  and  South  have  more  than  forgotten  the 
losses,  the  wounds,  and  the  anger  of  yesterday,  for 
the  all-sufficient  reason  that  both  sections  alike,  glory 
ing  in  their  strength,  blessed  with  prosperity  and 
wealth,  and  exultant  in  the  anticipation  of  a  still 
brighter  and  grander  day,  simply  have  no  time  to  re 
member. 


Colonel  William  H.  Stewart  157 

EULOGY  ON  GENERAL  LEE 

COLONEL  WILLIAM  H.  STEWART 

[An  address  before  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Con 
federacy,  January  19,  1901.] 

Mrs.  President,  Portsmouth  Chapter,  U.  D.  C.y  and 
Their  Friends: 

The  centuries  have  given  many  men  to  measure  up 
to  the  standard  of  greatness ;  many  men  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  temple  of  fame;  many  of  prodigious 
valor;  many  of  thrilling  chivalry;  many  of  brilliant 
intellectual  attainments;  many  of  splendid  virtues; 
but,  as  I  see,  no  single  character  is  or  has  been  so 
deeply  loved  by  the  people  whom  he  served,  and  few 
more  generally  admired  by  the  world,  than  Robert 
Edward  Lee.  His  very  name  is  inspiration  to  the 
hearts  of  Southerners;  his  conduct  a  model  for  their 
children;  his  great  goodness  like  a  ceaseless  prayer 
for  their  welfare. 

General  Lee  was  great  and  good,  brilliant  and 
modest,  humble  and  true,  faithful  to  his  God  and 
fellows.  His  life  is  a  picture  of  love  and  beauty; 
and  all  his  actions  from  youth  to  old  age  were  infused 
with  the  highest  ideals  of  duty.  No  considerations 
could  turn  him  from  its  path;  no  inducements  could 
swerve  his  inflexible  devotion  to  truth. 

A  cavalier  ancestor  of  the  eleventh  century  left 
him  lessons  of  true  pride,  honor,  self-sacrifice,  and 
generous  nature,  and  a  father  like  "Light  Horse 
Harry"  gave  a  light  which  must  have  in  a  measure 
guided  his  conduct. 

Robert  E.  Lee  was  born  on  January  19,  1807,  in 
the  same  house  and  same  room  in  which  Richard 
Henry  Lee  and  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee,  two  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  were  born. 

It  might  be  said  that  he  inherited  honor  and  fame; 


158  Oratory  of  the  South 

nevertheless,  he  held  them  not  as  an  idler's  toy,  but 
applied  his  vigorous  energies  and  imperial  intellect 
to  emulate  his  forefathers  in  all  their  courageous, 
virtuous,  and  noble  characteristics. 

He  commenced  his  boyhood  in  the  line  of  merito 
rious  manhood.  When  he  entered  West  Point  he 
took  the  head  of  his  class  and  held  it  until  he  was 
graduated  in  1829,  never  having  received  a  demerit 
or  reprimand  during  his  term  there.  He  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  an  army  officer  with  the  highest  honor 
of  his  military  school,  and  afterward,  in  the  fiery  rush 
of  battle,  held  fast  to  his  attainment  and  was  thrice 
brevetted  for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the 
Mexican  war. 

He  served  thirty  years  in  the  United  States  army, 
and  was  considered  by  all  officers,  almost  without 
exception,  to  be,  by  many  degrees,  the  most  accom 
plished  soldier  in  the  service. 

The  commander-in-chief,  General  Winfield  Scott, 
entertained  such  an  opinion  of  him,  and  said:  "Lee 
is  the  greatest  military  genius  in  America." 

He  undoubtedly  stood  highest  on  the  military 
record  of  the  United  States  army  when  Virginia 
seceded.  Had  rank,  self-aggrandizement,  success  and 
wealth  been  his  dream  of  life,  he  would  have  re 
mained  in  the  old  army. 

All  the  allurements  of  power  and  place  a  mighty 
nation  could  tender  were  in  the  request  to  unsheathe 
his  sword  as  commander-in-chief  of  Lincoln's  armies. 
But  the  metal  of  the  man  was  not  poured  in  that  mold 
which  turns  out  the  creature  for  the  dazzling  equip 
ments  of  success  at  the  sacrifice  of  honor.  No  place 
could  win  and  no  power  could  tempt  him  from  that 
path  of  duty  which  led  him  to  draw  his  sword  for 
Virginia. 

Here  his  mighty  character  unfolded  itself  to  the 
world,  and  it  stood  the  test  under  every  condition. 


Colonel  William  H.  Stewart  159 

General  Lee  was  high  in  the  opinion  of  the  people, 
and  their  expectations  were  great  when  he  was  or 
dered  to  command  the  defeated  army  of  the  slain 
Garnett;  but  he  failed  to  retrieve  the  disasters  in 
western  Virginia;  and  the  indignation  of  the  incon 
siderate  public  arose  against  him  as  the  cruel  blasts  of 
a  destructive  cyclone. 

His  military  reputation  fell  as  fevered  mercury  on 
Arctic  ice,  and  popular  prejudice  retired  him  to  the 
list  of  inefficient  officers.  Had  its  verdict  held,  no 
great  general,  no  illustrious  military  leader,  no  loved 
hero  for  the  South,  would  be  personified  in  Robert 
E.  Lee. 

But  the  hand  which  guided  the  helm  of  the  Con 
federacy  knew  the  man  and  the  fickle  public  could  not 
deter  or  restrain  its  judgment.  Therein  was  the  man 
hood  and  statesmanship  of  Jefferson  Davis.  He 
deserves  a  monument  from  the  South  by  every  con 
sideration  of  patriotism  and  justice. 

Say  what  you  may  of  President  Davis,  we  owe  to 
him  the  rescue  of  our  beloved  Lee  from  the  merciless 
oblivion  of  unjust  and  cruel  public  opinion.  Mr. 
Davis  leaves  us  a  great  lesson  of  charity,  to  restrain 
our  prejudices  and  govern  our  judgment.  The  hero 
and  the  man  were  there,  although  the  shadows  of  piti 
less  night  concealed  the  majestic  form. 

After  General  Joseph  E.  Johnson  was  incapacitated 
by  wounds  at  Seven  Pines,  Jefferson  Davis  made 
Robert  E.  Lee  commander  of  the  army  in  spite  of 
misfortune.  There  began  a  career  so  brilliant  as  to 
entitle  him  to  be  classed  with  the  greatest  generals 
on  the  lists  of  renown. 

He  took  but  one  week  to  defeat  McClellan's  great 
army,  relieve  the  siege  of  Richmond,  and  reinstall 
himself  as  the  best  loved  hero  in  all  the  South.  Then 
followed  in  the  course  of  time  the  great  battles  of 
Sharpsburg,  Fredericksburg,  Chancellorsville,  Get- 


!60  Oratory  of  the  South 

tysburg,  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  Cold  Harbor, 
and  Petersburg,  in  which  his  matchless  leadership 
thrilled  the  world. 

But  perhaps  the  true  greatness  of  the  man  was 
more  vividly  displayed  after  his  surrender  at  Appo- 
mattox,  when  he  said:  UI  have  led  the  young  men  of 
the  South  in  battle;  I  have  seen  many  of  them  fall 
under  my  standard.  I  shall  devote  my  life  now  to 
training  young  men  to  their  duty  in  life." 

Lord  Wolseley  said:  "I  have  met  many  of  the 
great  men  of  my  time,  but  Lee  alone  impressed  me 
with  the  feeling  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  man 
who  was  cast  in  a  grander  mold  and  made  of  different 
and  finer  metal  than  all  other  men.  He  is  stamped 
upon  my  memory  as  a  being  apart  and  superior  to  all 
others  in  every  way,  a  man  with  whom  none  I  ever 
knew  and  very  few  of  whom  I  have  read  are  worthy 
to  be  classed." 

Modesty,  gentleness,  simplicity,  benevolence  and 
Christian  humility,  added  to  Robert  E.  Lee's  mili 
tary  genius,  made  him  the  man  whom  the  South 
prizes  as  its  individuality,  and  national  exemplar. 

Notwithstanding  international  edict  and  national 
law,  to  all  of  which  I  yield  perfect  obedience,  there 
is  and  will  be  a  national  South  in  the  hearts  of  her 
true  people;  and  may  God  let  it  live,  because  it 
symbolizes  chivalry,  truth,  honor,  pride,  patience,  and 
self-abnegation,  as  the  life  of  Robert  E.  Lee  exempli 
fied;  not  only  by  our  estimation,  but  by  that  of  the 
London  Standard:  "A  country  which  has  given  birth 
to  men  like  him,  and  those  who  followed  him,  may 
look  the  chivalry  of  Europe  in  the  face  without 
shame,  for  the  fatherlands  of  Sidney  and  Bayard 
never  produced  a  nobler  soldier,  gentleman,  and 
Christian  than  General  Robert  E.  Lee." 

And  the  honor  of  his  birthday  by  the  Daughters  of 
the  Confederacy  must  stimulate  the  virtues  of  the 


Henry  Watterson  161 

people,  enkindle  the  patriotism  of  the  men,  and 
make  these  noble  women  sponsors  of  Christian 
knighthood  in  our  Southland. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

HENRY  WATTERSON 
Editor  of  the  Louisville   (Kentucky)    Courier- Journal 

[Extract  from  his  oration  on  Lincoln,  first  delivered  be 
fore  the  Lincoln  Union  at  Chicago,  February  12,  1895.] 

From  Caesar  to  Bismarck  and  Gladstone  the  world 
has  had  its  statesmen  and  its  soldiers — men  who  rose 
to  eminence  and  power  step  by  step,  through  a  series 
of  geometric  progression,  as  it  were,  each  advance 
ment  following  in  regular  order  one  after  the  other, 
the  whole  obedient  to  well-established  and  well- 
understood  laws  of  cause  and  effect.  They  were  not 
what  we  call  "men  of  destiny."  They  were  "men  of 
the  time."  They  were  men  whose  careers  had  a  be 
ginning,  a  middle,  and  an  end,  rounding  off  lives  with 
histories,  full  it  may  be  of  interesting  and  exciting 
events,  but  comprehensive  and  comprehensible, 
simple,  clear,  complete. 

The  inspired  ones  are  fewer.  Whence  their  ema 
nation,  where  and  how  they  got  their  power,  by  what 
rule  they  lived,  moved,  and  had  their  being,  we  know 
not.  There  is  no  explication  to  their  lives.  They 
rose  from  shadow  and  they  went  in  mist.  We  see 
them,  feel  them,  but  we  know  them  not.  They  came, 
God's  word  upon  their  lips;  they  did  their  office, 
God's  mantle  about  them;  and  they  vanished,  God's 
holy  light  between  the  world  and  them,  leaving  be 
hind  a  memory,  half  mortal  and  half  myth.  From 
first  to  last  they  were  the  creations  of  some  special 
Providence,  baffling  the  wit  of  man  to  fathom,  de- 


162  Oratory  of  the  South 

feating  the  machinations  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil  until  their  work  was  done,  then  pass 
ing  from  the  scene  as  mysteriously  as  they  had  come 
upon  it. 

Tried  by  this  standard,  where  shall  we  find  an 
example  so  impressive  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  whose 
career  might  be  chanted  by  a  Greek  chorus  as  at  once 
the  prelude  and  the  epilogue  of  the  most  imperial 
theme  of  modern  times? 

Born  as  lowly  as  the  Son  of  God,  in  a  hovel; 
reared  in  penury,  squalor,  with  no  gleam  of  light  or 
fair  surrounding;  without  graces,  actual  or  acquired; 
without  name  or  fame  or  official  training:  it  was  re 
served  for  this  strange  being,  late  in  life,  to  be 
snatched  from  obscurity,  raised  to  supreme  command 
at  a  supreme  moment,  and  intrusted  with  the  destiny 
of  a  nation. 

The  great  leaders  of  his  party,  the  most  experi 
enced  and  accomplished  public  men  of  the  day,  were 
made  to  stand  aside,  were  sent  to  the  rear,  whilst  this 
fantastic  figure  was  led  by  unseen  hands  to  the  front 
and  given  the  reins  of  power.  It  is  immaterial 
whether  we  were  for  him  or  against  him ;  wholly  im 
material.  That  during  four  years,  carrying  with 
them  such  a  weight  of  responsibility  as  the  world 
never  witnessed  before,  he  filled  the  vast  space  al 
lotted  him  in  the  eyes  and  actions  of  mankind,  is  to 
say  that  he  was  inspired  of  God,  for  nowhere  else 
could  he  have  acquired  the  wisdom  and  the  virtue. 

Where  did  Shakespeare  get  his  genius?  Where 
did  Mozart  get  his  music?  Whose  hand  smote  the 
lyre  of  the  Scottish  plowman,  and  stayed  the  life  of 
the  German  priest?  God,  God,  and  God  alone;  and 
as  surely  as  these  were  raised  up  by  God,  inspired  by 
God,  was  Abraham  Lincoln;  and  a  thousand  years 
hence,  no  drama,  no  tragedy,  no  epic  poem,  will  be 
filled  with  greater  wonder,  or  be  followed  by  man- 


Henry  Watterson  163 

kind  with  a  deeper  feeling,  than  that  which  tells  the 
story  of  his  life  and  death. 

I  look  into  the  crystal  globe  that,  slowly  turning, 
tells  the  story  of  his  life,  and  I  see  a  little  heart 
broken  boy,  weeping  by  the  outstretched  form  of  a 
dead  mother,  then  bravely,  nobly  trudging  a  hundred 
miles  to  obtain  her  Christian  burial.  I  see  this  mother 
less  lad  growing  to  manhood  amid  scenes  that  seem 
to  lead  to  nothing  but  abasement;    no  teachers;    no 
books ;  no  chart,  except  his  own  untutored  mind ;  no 
compass,  except  his  own  undisciplined  will ;   no  light, 
save  light  from  Heaven;    yet,  like  the  caravel  of 
Columbus,  struggling  on  and  on  through  the  trough 
of  the  sea,  always  toward  the  destined  land.     I  see 
the  full-grown  man,  stalwart  and  brave,  an  athlete  in 
activity  of  movement  and  strength  of  limb,  yet  vexed 
by  weird  dreams  and  visions — of  life,  of  love,  of  re 
ligion,  sometimes  verging  on  despair.    I  see  the  mind, 
grown  as  robust  as  the  body,  throw  off  these  phan 
toms  of  the  imagination  and  give  itself  wholly  to  the 
workaday  uses  of  the  world — the  rearing  of  children, 
the  earning  of  bread,  the  multiplied  duties  of  life. 
I  see  the  party  leader,  self-confident  in  conscious  rec 
titude  ;   original,  because  it  was  not  his  nature  to  fol 
low;    potent,  because  he  was  fearless,  pursuing  his 
convictions  with  earnest  zeal,  and  urging  them  upon 
his  fellows  with  the  resources  of  an  oratory  which  was 
hardly  more  impressive  than  it  was  many-sided.     I 
see  him,  the  preferred  among  his  fellows,  ascend  the 
eminence  reserved  for  him ;   and  him  alone  of  all  the 
statesmen  of  the  time,  and  the  derision  of  opponents 
and  the  distrust  of  supporters,  yet  unawed  and  un 
moved   because    thoroughly    equipped   to    meet    the 
emergency.    The  same  being,  from  first  to  last;   the 
poor  child  weeping  over  a  dead  mother;    the  great 
chief  sobbing  amid  the  cruel  horrors  of  war;    flinch 
ing  not  from  duty,  nor  changing  his  lifelong  ways  of 


164  Oratory  of  the  South 

dealing  with  the  stern  realities  which  pressed  upon 
him  and  hurried  him  onward.  And,  last  scene  of  all, 
that  ends  this  strange,  eventful  history,  I  see  him 
lying  dead  there  in  the  Capitol  of  the  nation  to  which 
he  had  rendered  "the  last,  full  measure  of  his  devo 
tion,"  the  flag  of  his  country  around  him,  the  world 
in  mourning. 


LINCOLN  AND  THE  SOUTH 

NEWTON  C.  BLANCHARD 

Governor  of  Louisiana 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the 
Sangamon  Club,  Springfield,  111.,  February  12,  1907.] 

Let  us  here  to-night  take  fresh  hold  on  the  fact 
that  the  war  closed  more  than  forty  years  ago.  As 
we  look  back  over  the  four  decades  of  renewed  na 
tional  life  which  have  elapsed  since  that  critical  time, 
we  come  to  realize  in  the  fullest,  and  point  the  world 
to  the  fact,  that  our  system  of  government,  tried  in 
the  crucible  of  civil  war  and  reconstruction,  did  in- 
indeed  emerge  therefrom  stronger  than  ever — not 
merely  in  the  legal  bonds  guaranteeing  a  Union  of 
inseparable  States,  but  stronger  than  ever  in  the  mu 
tual  understanding,  good-will,  and  friendly  feeling 
characterizing  the  people  of  the  several  sections,  the 
one  towards  the  other. 

I  come  from  that  section  whose  economic  and 
social  order  was  overturned  by  that  war,  and  whose 
material  prosperity  was  wrecked  by  it.  I  came,  never 
theless,  to  take  part  with  you,  here  in  the  Capital  City 
of  his  State,  where  he  lived  and  where  lie  his  sacred 
remains,  in  the  anniversary  celebration  of  the  birth 
of  the  great  leader  on  your  side  in  that  war.  I  came 
to  mingle  with  your  own  my  tribute  of  admira- 


Newton  C.  Blanchard  165 

tion  of  him,  and  to  voice  what  I  conceive  to  be  the 
South's  present  estimate  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  his  life, 
character,  and  achievements. 

That  estimate  is  so  high  that  we  of  the  South  join 
with  you  of  the  North  in  placing  him  with  Washing 
ton — at  the  forefront  of  the  illustrious  men  whose 
lives  and  careers  adorn  the  pages  of  American  his 
tory.  And  right  here,  sir,  my  congratulations  are 
due  and  are  heartily  tendered  to  this  Illinois  audience 
that  their  great  State  enjoys  the  proud  privilege  of 
having  given  to  the  nation,  to  humanity,  to  the  world, 
such  a  man — one  of  those  rare  spirits  which  have  a 
few  times  only  appeared  in  human  history.  In  his 
case,  as  in  that  of  other  such  men,  the  discovery  came 
slowly,  but  it  came.  He  was  dead  before  the  North, 
or  the  world,  understood  either  it  or  him.  Such  is 
the  irony  of  fate.  Columbus  himself  died  without 
knowing  he  had  discovered  a  continent. 

The  prejudice  and  bitterness  engendered  on  both 
sides  by  the  war  have  happily  given  way  altogether; 
disappointment  and  gloom  on  our  part  and  undue 
elation  and  exultant  triumph  on  yours  have  been  mel 
lowed  and  modified  by  the  softening  touch  of  time; 
jealousy,  aspersion,  disparagement,  calumny,  have 
everywhere  disappeared,  and  North  and  South  alike 
revere  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  memory 
of  his  great  and  loving  heart,  of  his  forbearance,  of 
his  gentleness,  his  patience,  his  firm  faith,  of  his  free 
dom  from  passion,  from  envy,  hatred,  and  malice, 
in  the  trying  time  of  his  exercise  of  great  power,  is 
the  priceless  heritage  of  a  united  land. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  great  work  he  wrought, 
and  for  which  he  laid  down  his  life,  has  come  to  be 
accepted  by  mankind  everywhere  as  of  supreme  be 
neficence  and  importance  in  the  world's  progress  and 
history,  and  in  this  judgment  the  South  concurs.  In 
all  the  earth  it  is  recognized  that  through  Lincoln's 


166  Oratory  of  the  South 

efforts  and  struggles  the  world  was  helped  onward, 
and  humanity  moved  to  a  higher  level  and  into  a 
brighter  day.  We  of  the  South  give  assent  to  this. 

It  is  of  our  faith  that  "Eternal  Wisdom  marshals 
the  procession  of  the  nations/'  and  that  the  God  of 
the  Universe  intended  the  restored  Union  of  Ameri 
can  States  to  take,  in  this  age  and  cycle  of  the  world, 
the  head  of  the  procession.  To  this  end  the  great 
American  Republic  was,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
put  through  the  trying  ordeal  of  civil  war,  of  battle, 
bloodshed,  and  sacrifice,  to  come  forth  invigorated 
and  strengthened  for  the  great  task. 

And  so  it  is  that  the  South  has  come  to  rejoice, 
along  with  the  North,  that  the  result  of  the  war  was 
the  full  restoration  of  the  Union  and  not  its  dismem 
berment. 

A  distinguished  Frenchman,  meditating  amidst 
the  graves  of  the  soldiers  of  both  sides  at  Arlington 
National  Cemetery,  said:  "Only  a  great  people  is 
capable  of  a  great  civil  war."  And  here,  to-night,  I 
add,  and  I  know  you  will  sanction  it,  that  only  a  great 
people  is  capable  of  a  great  reconciliation.  Let  us, 
alike  people  of  the  North  and  people  of  the  South, 
prove  additionally  our  claim  to  greatness  by  the  great 
ness  of  our  reconciliation.  Then,  indeed,  will  we  be 
fulfilling  the  prophetic  words  of  Lincoln,  given  ut 
terance  to  in  his  first  inaugural  address:  "The  mys 
tic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle 
field  and  every  patriot  grave  to  every  loving  heart 
and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet 
swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched, 
as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  na 
ture." 

Oh !  my  countrymen,  if  occasion  for  this  then,  how 
much  more  so  now?  More  battlefields,  more  patriot 
graves  now,  North  and  South,  to  inspire  this  love 
and  this  feeling;  more  loving  hearts  and  hearthstones 


John  V.  L.  Findlay  167 

now  to  touch,  to  carry  the  message  to,  for  "the  better 
angels  of  our  nature"  to  visit.  They  are  here  to 
night  —  those  angels.  They  are  in  this  hall,  this  ban 
quet  room,  and  all  over  this  reunited  land,  and  the 
spirit  of  Abraham  Lincoln  inspires  their  work  of 
love. 

LINCOLN  AT  GETTYSBURG 

JOHN  V.  L.  FINDLAY 
Fomerly  a  Congressman  from  Maryland 

[Extract  from  an  address  on  "Maryland   Day,"  at  the 
World's    Columbian    Exposition,    Chicago,    September    12, 


Washington  Irving,  in  one  of  the  most  delightful 
sketches  ever  drawn  by  his  charming  pen,  has  given 
us  an  account  of  a  visit  he  once  paid  to  Stratford-on- 
Avon,  and  remarks  that  he  thought  it  was  something 
to  have  seen  the  dust  of  Shakespeare. 

I  have  done  better.  I  have  seen  the  living  Lin 
coln  in  the  flesh  more  than  once.  I  have  felt  the  firm 
grip  of  that  big  bony  hand  that  signed  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation,  knocked  off  the  shackles  of  three 
millions  of  slaves,  and  in  an  inspired  strain,  as  sub 
lime  as  anything  that  ever  fell  from  the  lips  of  Isaiah, 
penned  the  second  inaugural.  I  have  looked  at  close 
range  into  those  mysterious  eyes  of  his,  the  saddest  I 
ever  saw  in  the  human  head,  and  tried  in  vain  to  ex 
plore  their  hidden  depths  behind  which  lay  a  whole 
world  of  sorrow  lost  in  the  shadows  of  a  still  more 
tragical  world  to  come. 

I  sat  under  him  at  Gettysburg  amid  the  new  graves 
that,  as  yet  ungrassed,  in  bare  red  clay  furrowed  the 
bosom  of  the  battlefield.  I  was  near  enough  almost 
to  be  within  the  swing  of  his  mighty  arm  on  that 
raw  November  day,  when  all  unknown  to  himself, 


168  Oratory  of  the  South 

he  was  pronouncing  a  world's  oration,  not  five  min 
utes  long,  that  will  be  read  and  spoken  when  Demos 
thenes  and  Cicero,  Burke  and  Sheridan,  Webster  and 
Clay,  may  be  forgotten.  I  can  see  the  memorable 
pageant  as  plainly  as  if  it  were  passing  before  me 
now,  a  vast  concourse  of  citizens  and  soldiers  pressing 
up  to  a  plain  plank  platform,  relieved  here  and  there 
by  bits  of  color  where  the  flag  had  been  twined;  the 
grim  hills  bare  of  foliage  from  which  the  artillery 
duel  was  fought,  with  the  death's  valley  between 
strewn  with  the  wreck  of  Pickett's  gallant  column, 
and  this  tall,  high-cheek-boned,  sad-eyed  man,  the 
crowning  and  central  figure  of  it  all.  / 

By  the  kindness  of  General  Simon  Cameron  I  was 
fortunate  enough  to  get  a  seat  on  the  platform,  and 
could  hear  and  see  distinctly  everything  that  went  on. 
It  is  almost  a  forgotten  circumstance,  but  it  is  a  fact, 
that  the  first  rhetorician  of  the  day,  Edward  Everett, 
made  the  set  speech  of  the  occasion,  and  which  when 
published  filled  almost  a  broadside  of  the  city  news 
papers.  He  had  memorized  it  with  such  care  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  that  he  never  once  referred 
to  his  manuscript  for  assistance,  although  he  was  oc 
cupied  more  than  an  hour  in  its  delivery.  It  fell  flat, 
however,  and  was  soon  forgotten,  and  has  never  been 
referred  to  since  except  in  an  historical  way  as  one  of 
the  features  of  the  dedication  of  the  cemetery.  And 
yet  Mr.  Everett  had  been  president  of  Harvard,  Gov 
ernor  of  Massachusetts,  Senator  and  Representative 
from  the  same  State  in  Congress,  Minister  to  the 
Court  of  St.  James',  and  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
United  States,  and  was  without  question,  as  I  have 
said,  the  most  brilliant  rhetorician  of  the  age,  there 
being  passages  in  some  of  his  public  addresses, 
notably  the  address  at  the  founding  of  Washington 
University  at  St.  Louis,  and  in  the  splendid  descrip 
tion  he  has  left  of  the  encounter  between  Webster  and 


John  V.  L.  Findlay  169 

Hayne,  and  in  his  magnificent  eulogy  on  Washington, 
which,  as  mere  word  pictures,  are  not  surpassed  by 
anything  of  the  kind  in  the  English  language.  But 
rhetoric  was  out  of  place  at  Gettysburg.  Nobody 
but  an  orator,  and  a  great  orator  at  that,  could  get 
the  right  pitch  for  such  an  occasion.  A  rhetorician 
thinks  of  himself  and  the  impression  that  he  is  mak 
ing,  whereas  an  orator  is  only  concerned  to  interpret 
the  true  meaning  of  an  occasion  which  all  feel,  but 
he  alone  can  express.  Oratory  is  not  grace.  No  one 
could  have  been  more  stiff  and  constrained,  not  to  say 
awkward,  than  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  was  not  a  musical 
voice.  His  voice  was  as  harsh  and  strident  as  the 
November  blast.  It  is  least  of  all  the  garnishment 
of  fine  words.  Behold,  then,  this  spare  man,  six  feet 
four  in  height,  wearing  a  long  overcoat  that  almost 
reached  to  his  heels,  and  made  him  appear  taller  still, 
topped  with  a  high  silk  hat,  which  helped  to  elevate 
him  still  further.  See  him  rise  in  his  place  and  calmly 
survey  the  audience  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  then 
listen  to  what  comes.  I  remember  no  manuscript.  I 
can  see  and  hear  him  now,  and  recall  the  very,  accents 
of  his  voice,  as  he  uttered  his  opening  sentence: 
"Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  on  this  continent  a  new  nation  conceived  in  lib 
erty  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are 
created  free  and  equal."  As  he  uttered  the  words 
"all  men"  he  made  us  feel  that  he  was  scooping  in  all 
the  generations  of  men,  not  only  the  living  standing 
before  him  and  the  glorious  dead  who  had  fallen  as 
martyrs  to  the  cause  of  freedom  on  that  bloody  July 
field  still  resonant  with  the  triumphant  echoes  of  the 
nation's  second  natal  day,  but  all  the  oppressed 
among  the  sons  of  men  of  every  clime  and  every  age. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  only  an  orator;  he  was  a 
logician,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  logician  evolved 
a  proposition  in  terms  of  eloquence,  such  as  followed. 


170  Oratory  of  the  South 

"We  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,"  he  said,  "test 
ing  whether  that  nation  or  any  nation  so  conceived 
and  so  dedicated  can  long  endure.  We  are  standing 
on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war,  and  we  have  come 
to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting- 
place  for  those  who  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 
might  live.  It  is  fitting  that  we  should  do  this,  but  in 
a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  conse 
crate,  we  cannot  hallow,  this  ground.  The  brave  men 
living  and  dead  who  struggled  here  consecrated  it  far 
above  our  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will 
little  note,  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  [ah ! 
great  heart!  There  you  were  mistaken!]  but  it  can 
never  forget  what  they  did  here." 

And  then  with  inconceivable  solemnity  and  earnest 
ness  he  summed  it  all  up  by  saying: 

"It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the 
great  task  remaining  before  us,  that  from  these  hon 
ored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause 
for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion ; 
that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not 
have  died  in  vain;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth." 

Applause  follows  lightly  on  the  sudden  awakening 
of  the  emotions  that  lie  near  the  surface  of  the  hu 
man  heart,  as  the  shallows  of  a  summer  lake  ripple 
in  the  responsive  whispers  the  wooing  of  every 
passing  breeze;  but  there  are  profounder  depths,  like 
the  abysmal  recesses  of  the  sea,  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  tidal  flow  or  the  imperial  sweep  of  the  tempest's 
wing,  where  the  soul  holds  close  communion  with 
itself,  and  is  still.  Such  were  the  depths  stirred  by 
Mr.  Lincoln.  No  applause  followed;  not  a  voice 
was  raised;  not  a  hand  was  clapped.  We  would  as 
soon  have  thought  of  cheering  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  or  the  Lord's  Prayer  itself. 


Morris  Sheppard  171 

CONTRIBUTIONS     OF    THE     HEBREW 
PEOPLE   TO   HUMAN   ADVANCEMENT 

MORRIS  SHEPPARD 
Congressman  from  Texas 

[The  concluding  part  of  an  address  delivered  before  the 
Young  Men's  and  Women's  Culture  Society  of  Temple 
Rodeph  Sholom,  New  York  City,  April  25,  1906.] 

Never  have  the  versatility  and  value  of  the  He 
braic  genius  been  more  brilliantly  demonstrated  than 
in  the  last  one  hundred  years.  In  politics  we  find 
Lasalle  breathing  the  German  social  democracy  into 
existence  and  rivaling  Bismarck.  We  find  Lasker, 
the  author-statesman,  inaugurating  the  German  Lib 
eral  party  and  leading  it  in  the  Reichstag.  We  find 
Bamberger,  the  enconomist-historian,  assisting  in  the 
formation  of  modern  Germany.  We  find  Mann- 
heimer,  president  of  the  Austrian  Diet,  and  Trier, 
the  speaker  of  the  Danish  House  of  Commons.  In 
Turkey  we  find  Pasha,  a  Vice-Admiral  of  the  Impe 
rial  Navy,  and  his  brother  the  First  Dragoman  of 
the  Imperial  palace.  In  Italy  we  find  Maurogonato 
among  the  foremost  senators  and  lawyers;  Luzzati, 
a  conspicuous  member  of  various  cabinets;  Wollem- 
borg,  Victor  Emmanuel's  first  Minister  of  Finance; 
Artom,  an  illustrious  diplomat,  the  friend  and  coun 
selor  of  Cavour.  In  France  we  find  Benavrides  one 
of  the  highest  magistrates ;  Cremieux,  a  famous  min 
ister  and  legislator;  Fould,  four  times  a  Minister  of 
Finance  under  Louis  Napoleon;  Gambetta,  a  de 
fender  of  human  rights ;  See,  a  champion  of  woman's 
education.  In  England  we  find  Disraeli  rising  from 
the  humblest  surroundings  to  become  for  twenty-five 
years  one  of  the  most  powerful  figures  in  the  world, 
and  Lord  Herschel  twice  Lord  High  Chancellor 


172  Oratory  of  the  South 

under  Gladstone.  In  the  United  States  we  find  Judah 
P.  Benjamin  declining  a  Supreme  Justiceship  on  ac 
count  of  his  immense  private  practice,  representing 
Louisiana  with  rare  ability  in  the  Federal  Senate, 
serving  in  the  cabinet  of  the  Confederacy,  and  after 
the  failure  of  the  Southern  cause  reaching  England 
with  shattered  fortune  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  to  be 
come  a  leader  of  the  English  bar  and  to  write  a  work 
on  the  law  of  sales  that  ranks  as  permanent  authority. 
Benjamin  once  appeared  against  Webster  in  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court.  Webster  occupied 
three  hours.  Then  came  Benjamin,  physically  small 
and  insignificant,  who  spoke  in  a  thin,  low  voice  for 
twenty  minutes,  when  the  Chief  Justice  whispered  to 
one  of  his  colleagues:  "Great  heavens,  that  little 
man  has  stated  Webster  out  of  court  in  twenty  min 
utes  1"  We  find  Isador  Rayner,  a  worthy  successor  of 
Benjamin,  in  the  present  United  States  Senate.  In 
the  national  House  of  Representatives  we  find  our 
own  incomparable  Mr.  Goldfogle,  Meyer,  Littauer, 
and  Kahn.  We  find  Franklin  Moses  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  California,  and  Newburger, 
Cohen,  Leventritt,  Greenbaum,  Steckler,  and  others 
on  the  bench  in  New  York. 

In  other  avenues  we  find  the  modern  Jew  pre 
eminent.  In  poetry  we  may  point  to  Drachmann, 
whom  competent  critics  have  ranked  with  Tennyson 
and  Byron;  in  fiction  to  Auerbach,  to  Bernstein,  and 
to  Zangwill;  in  dramatic  literature  to  Klein,  Millaud, 
Halevy,  Schlesinger,  Von  Weilen,  Rosenfeld,  Be- 
lasco,  and  Martha  Morton;  in  dramatic  art  to  Son- 
nenthal, — the  idol  of  Vienna, — to  Barnay,  Braham, 
Rachel,  and  to  Bernhardt,  the  "queen  of  attitude"; 
in  song  to  Lucca,  Calve,  Lehman,  Melba,  Patti, 
Sembrich  and  Marcella;  in  music  to  Mendelssohn — 
grandson  of  the  great  philosopher,  Moses  Mendels 
sohn,  Meyerbeer,  Strauss,  the  Damrosches,  Ruben- 


Morris  Sheppard  173 

stein,  and  Hoffman;  in  painting  to  Israels,  Solomon 
J.  Solomon,  Ulmann,  Meyerheim,  Lazarus,  and  Ben 
Austrian ;  in  sculpture  to  Ezekiel  and  Antokalski ;  in 
writers  of  history  to  Edersheim,  Herzberg,  Rowanin, 
and  Geiger;  in  political  economy  to  Ricardo,  Marx, 
Lasalle,  and  de  Bloch;  in  criminology  to  Lombroso 
and  Max  Nordau ;  in  mathematics  to  Sylvester,  who 
with  Cayler  founded  modern  higher  algebra;  in  ex 
ploration  to  Emin  Pasha;  in  astronomy  to  the  Her- 
schels,  to  Goldschmidt,  who  discovered  fourteen  as 
teroids  and  thousands  of  new  stars,  and  to  Beer,  who 
has  been  called  the  first  cartographist  of  the  moon; 
in  medicine  to  Roller,  discoverer  of  cocaine,  to  Vir- 
chow  and  Koch,  the  renowned  specialists  in  tubercu 
losis;  in  botany  to  Cohn  and  Pringsheim,  who  are 
among  the  first  botanists  of  Germany;  in  finance  to 
the  Rothchilds,  who  perfected  modern  finance  and 
popularized  national  loans;  to  Poliakoff  and  Pe- 
reres,  the  great  Russian  and  French  railway  owners; 
in  journalism  to  Pulitzer,  to  Rosewater,  and  Ochs; 
in  diplomacy  to  Oscar  Straus  and  Solomon  Hirsch;  in 
charity  to  Montefiore,  to  Baron  and  Baroness  de 
Hirsch,  Schiff,  Nathan  Straus,  and  Mrs.  Esther  Her 
mann. 

It  may  be  seen  from  this  all  too  brief  enumeration 
how  few  of  these  great  names  are  connected  with 
finance.  The  Jewish  people  retain  in  all  its  orig 
inal  vigor  the  spirituality  of  old  Israel.  They  are 
still  devoted  to  the  things  of  the  spirit,  and  scholar 
ship,  philosophy,  art,  in  fact  all  intellectual  studies, 
are  still  their  favorite  and  fundamental  form  of  en 
ergy.  Let  it  be  said  to  civilization's  shame  that  of  the 
eleven  million  Jews  in  the  world  more  than  half  this 
number  are  still  subjected  in  Russia  and  Roumania  to 
the  infamous  restrictions  and  oppressions  of  the  Dark 
Ages. 

In  this  brief  and  necessarily  incomplete  discussion 


174  Oratory  of  the  South 

I  have  tried  to  outline  the  principal  contributions  of 
the  Jewish  people  to  human  advancement.  A  com 
plete  description  of  their  achievements  would  involve 
a  review  of  the  history  of  almost  every  important 
nation  both  of  the  present  and  the  past,  and  of  the 
world  itself.  They  have  been  patriots  in  the  coun 
tries  of  their  exile  and  adoption  and  cosmopolitans  in 
almost  every  age.  In  the  great  transition  periods,  the 
movements  for  human  elevation,  they  have  played 
fundamental  parts.  They  have  been  the  messengers 
of  an  idealism  from  which  have  flowered  purity  in 
religion,  loftiness  in  morals,  equality  in  society,  and 
majesty  in  law.  In  philosophy,  science,  literature, 
finance,  in  general  culture,  in  domestic  virtue,  in 
patriotism  and  philanthropy,  they  have  been  world- 
pioneers,  world-counselors.  In  the  preservation  of 
their  identity,  vitality,  and  refinement  through  cen 
turies  of  cruelty  and  oppression  they  have  established 
an  example  which  will  give  new  strength  and  hope  to 
inhumanity's  victims  everywhere.  Recalling  their 
marvelous  record,  a  record  fairly  glittering  with 
blessings  for  mankind,  it  seems  unthinkable  that 
death  and  torture  and  exclusion  should  have  been 
their  fortune  through  so  many  ages,  and  that  to-day 
they  suffer  the  most  ferocious  and  inexorable  dis 
criminations  in  eastern  Europe.  This  last  condition 
is  the  foulest  stain  on  our  civilization,  the  darkest 
indictment  of  our  time.  If  Protestants  were  wronged 
in  eastern  Europe  as  are  the  Jews — and  I,  a  Protes 
tant,  make  the  assertion — protests  would  be  thun 
dered  from  the  leading  powers  and  peoples  of  the 
earth,  protests  which  unheeded  would  be  re-enforced 
with  battleships. 

How  proud  the  heritage  of  the  Jewish  young  men 
and  women!  How  inspiring  the  task  which  con 
fronts  them!  With  what  purity  and  culture  must 
they  fill  their  souls  and  lives  in  order  to  keep  unfurled 


Zebulon  Baird  Vance  175 

and  spotless  the  banners  of  the  spirit!  With  what 
courage  must  they  defend  the  principles  of  equality 
and  justice;  with  what  devotion  must  they  take  up 
the  cause  of  their  bleeding  brethren  of  the  Russian 
and  Roumanian  captivities!  May  they  continue  to 
promote  with  every  energy  the  welfare  of  the  respec 
tive  nations  of  their  allegiance,  to  spread  the  teach 
ings  and  ideals  of  intellectual  and  political  freedom, 
of  fraternity  among  republics  and  empires  as  well  as 
men,  and  thus  bring  nearer  to  humanity  the  realiza 
tion  of  Isaiah's  dream  of  universal  peace. 

THE   SCATTERED   NATION 

ZEBULON  BAIRD  VANCE 
Some  time  United  States  Senator  from  North  Carolina 

[Extract  from  a  lecture  delivered  in  1882,  and  thereafter 
in  various  places,  and  called  his  greatest  platform  discourse.] 

"There  is  a  river  in  the  ocean.  In  the  severest 
droughts  it  never  fails,  and  in  the  mightiest  floods  it 
never  overflows.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  is  its  foun 
tain,  and  its  mouth  is  in  the  Arctic  seas.  It  is  the  Gulf 
Stream.  There  is  in  the  world  no  other  such  majes 
tic  flow  of  waters.  Its  current  is  more  rapid  than  the 
Mississippi  or  the  Amazon,  and  its  volume  more  than 
a  thousand  times  greater.  Its  waters,  as  far  out  from 
the  Gulf  as  the  Carolina  coasts,  are  of  an  indigo  blue; 
they  are  so  distinctly  marked  that  their  line  of  junc 
tion  with  the  common  sea-water  may  be  traced  by 
the  eye.  Often  one-half  of  a  vessel  may  be  perceived 
floating  in  the  Gulf  Stream  water,  while  the  other 
half  is  in  the  common  water  of  the  sea,  so  sharp  is  the 
line  and  such  is  the  want  of  affinity  between  those 
waters,  and  such,  too,  the  reluctance,  so  to  speak,  on 
the  part  of  those  of  the  Gulf  Stream  to  mingle  with 
the  common  water  of  the  sea." 


176  Oratory  of  the  South 

This  curious  phenomenon  in  the  physical  world 
has  its  counterpart  in  the  moral.  There  is  a  lonely 
river  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean  of  mankind.  The 
mightiest  floods  of  human  temptation  have  never 
caused  it  to  overflow,  and  the  fiercest  fires  of  human 
cruelty,  though  seven  times  heated  in  the  furnace  of 
religious  bigotry,  have  never  caused  it  to  dry  up, 
although  its  waves  for  two  thousand  years  have 
rolled  crimson  with  the  blood  of  its  martyrs.  Its 
fountain  is  in  the  gray  dawn  of  the  world's  history, 
and  its  mouth  is  somewhere  in  the  shadows  of  eter 
nity.  It,  too,  refuses  to  mingle  with  the  surrounding 
waves,  and  the  line  which  divides  its  restless  billows 
from  the  common  waters  of  humanity  is  also  plainly 
visible  to  the  eye.  It  is  the  Jewish  race. 

The  Jew  is  beyond  doubt  the  most  remarkable 
man  of  this  world,  past  or  present.  Of  all  the  stories 
of  the  sons  of  men  there  is  none  so  wild,  so  wonderful, 
so  full  of  extreme  mutation,  so  replete  with  suffering 
and  horror,  so  abounding  in  extraordinary  provi 
dences,  so  overflowing  with  scenic  romance.  There 
is  no  man  who  approaches  him  in  the  extent  and 
character  of  the  influence  which  he  has  exercised  over 
the  human  family.  His  history  is  the  history  of 
our  civilization  and  progress  in  this  world,  and  our 
faith  and  hope  in  that  which  is  to  come.  From  him 
have  we  derived  the  form  of  pattern  of  all  that  is 
excellent  on  earth  or  in  heaven.  If,  as  De  Quincey 
says,  the  Roman  emperors,  as  the  great  accountants 
for  the  happiness  of  more  men,  and  men  more  culti 
vated  than  ever  before,  were  entrusted  to  the  motions 
of  a  single  will,  had  a  special,  singular,  and  myste 
rious  relation  to  the  secret  councils  of  heaven — thrice 
truly  may  it  be  said  of  the  Jew.  Palestine,  his  home, 
was  the  central  chamber  of  God's  administration. 
He  was  at  once  the  grand  usher  to  these  glorious 
courts,  the  repository  of  the  councils  of  the  Almighty, 


Zebulon  Baird  Vance  177 

and  the  envoy  of  the  divine  mandates  to  the  con 
science  of  men.  He  was  the  priest  and  faith-giver 
to  mankind,  and  as  such,  in  spite  of  the  jibe  and  jeer, 
he  must  ever  be  considered  as  occupying  a  peculiar 
and  sacred  relation  to  all  other  peoples  of  this  world. 
Even  now,  though  the  Jews  have  long  since  ceased 
to  exist  as  a  consolidated  nation  inhabiting  a  com 
mon  country,  and  for  eighteen  hundred  years  have 
been  scattered  far  and  near  over  the  wide  earth,  their 
strange  customs,  their  distinct  features,  personal  pe 
culiarities,  and  their  scattered  unity  make  them  still 
a  wonder  and  an  astonishment. 

Though  dead  as  a  nation, — as  we  speak  of 
nations, — yet  they  live.  Their  ideas  fill  the  world 
and  move  the  wheels  of  its  progress,  even  as  the  sun, 
when  he  sinks  behind  the  western  hills,  yet  fills  the 
heavens  with  the  remnants  of  his  glory.  As  the 
destruction  of  matter  in  one  form  is  made  necessary 
to  its  resurrection  in  another,  so  it  would  seem  that 
the  perishing  of  the  Jewish  nationality  was  essential 
in  order  to  ensure  the  universal  acceptance  and  the 
everlasting  establishment  of  Jewish  ideas.  Never 
before  was  there  an  instance  of  such  a  general  rejec 
tion  of  the  person  and  character,  and  acceptance  of 
the  doctrines  and  dogmas,  of  a  people. 

We  admire  with  unlimited  admiration  the  Greek 
and  Roman,  but  reject  with  contempt  their  crude  and 
beastly  divinities.  We  affect  to  despise  the  Jew,  but 
accept  and  adore  the  pure  conception  of  a  God  which 
he  taught  us,  and  whose  real  existence  the  history  of 
the  Jew  more  than  all  else  establishes.  When  the 
court  chaplain  of  Frederick  the  Great  was  asked  by 
that  bluff  monarch  for  a  brief  and  concise  summary  of 
the  argument  in  support  of  the  truths  of  the  Scrip 
ture,  he  instantly  replied,  with  a  force  to  which 
nothing  could  be  added,  uThe  Jews,  your  Majesty, 
the  Jews." 


12 


178  Oratory  of  the  South 

I  think  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  there  is  more 
of  average  wealth,  intelligence,  and  morality  among 
the  Jewish  people  than  there  is  among  any  other 
nation  of  equal  numbers  in  the  world!  If  this  be 
true — if  it  be  half  true — when  we  consider  the  cir 
cumstances  under  which  it  has  all  been  brought  about, 
it  constitutes  in  the  eyes  of  thinking  men  the  most 
remarkable  moral  phenomenon  ever  exhibited  by  any 
portion  of  the  human  family.  For  not  only  has  the 
world  given  the  Jew  no  help,  but  all  that  he  has  ever 
received,  and  that  but  rarely,  was  to  be  left  alone. 
To  escape  the  sword,  the  rack,  the  fire,  and  utter 
spoiling  of  his  goods,  has  indeed  for  centuries  been 
to  him  a  blessed  heritage,  as  the  shadow  of  a  great 
rock  in  a  weary  land. 

The  physical  persecution  of  the  Jews  has  measur 
ably  ceased  among  all  nations  of  the  highest  civiliza 
tion.  There  is  no  longer  any  proscription  left  upon 
their  political  rights  in  any  land  where  the  English 
tongue  is  spoken.  I  am  proud  of  the  fact.  But 
there  remains  among  us  an  unreasonable  prejudice, 
of  which  I  am  heartily  ashamed.  Our  toleration  will 
not  be  complete  until  we  put  it  away  also,  as  well  as 
the  old  implements  of  physical  torture. 

I  agree  with  Lord  Macaulay  that  the  Jew  is  what 
we  have  made  him.  If  he  is  a  bad  job,  in  all 
honesty  we  should  contemplate  him  as  the  handiwork 
of  our  own  civilization.  If  there  be  indeed  guile 
upon  his  lips  or  servility  in  his  manner,  we  should 
remember  that  such  are  the  legitimate  fruits  of  op 
pression  and  wrong,  and  that  they  have  been,  since 
the  pride  of  Judah  was  broken  and  his  strength  scat 
tered,  his  only  means  of  turning  aside  the  uplifted 
sword  and  the  poised  javelin  of  him  who  sought  to 
plunder  and  slay.  Indeed,  so  long  has  he  schemed 
and  shifted  to  avoid  injustice  and  cruelty,  that  we  can 


Zebulon  Baird  Vance  179 

perceive  in  him  all  the  restless  watchfulness  which 
characterizes  the  hunted  animal. 

To  this  day  the  cast  of  the  Jew's  features  in  repose 
is  habitually  grave  and  sad,  as  though  the  very  plow 
share  of  sorrow  had  marked  its  furrows  across  their 
faces  forever. 

"And  where  shall  Israel  lave  her  bleeding  feet? 
And  when  shall  Zion's  songs  again  seem  sweet, 
And  Judah's  melody  once  more  rejoice 
The  heart  that  leaped  before  its  heavenly  voice? 
Tribes  of  the  wandering  foot  and  weary  heart, 
How  shall  ye  flee  away  and  be  at  rest? 
The  wild  dove  hath  her  nest — the  fox  his  cave — 
Mankind  their  country — Israel  but  the  grave." 

The  hardness  of  Christian  prejudice  having  dis 
solved,  so  will  that  of  the  Jew.  The  hammer  of 
persecution  having  ceased  to  beat  upon  the  iron  mass 
of  their  stubbornness,  it  will  cease  to  consolidate  and 
harden,  and  the  main  strength  of  their  exclusion  and 
preservation  will  have  been  lost.  They  will  perhaps 
learn  that  one  sentence  of  our  Lord's  Prayer  which 
it  is  said  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Talmud,  and  which 
is  the  keynote  of  the  difference  between  Jew  and  Gen 
tile:  "Forgive  us  our  trespasses  as  we  forgive  them 
who  trespass  against  us."  If  so,  they  will  become  as 
other  men,  and,  taking  their  harps  down  from  the 
willows,  will  no  longer  refuse  to  sing  the  songs  of 
Zion  because  they  are  captives  in  a  strange  land. 

I  believe  that  there  is  a  morning  to  open  yet  for 
the  Jews,  in  Heaven's  good  time,  and  if  that  opening 
shall  be  in  any  way  commensurate  with  the  darkness 
of  the  night  through  which  they  have  passed,  it  will 
be  the  brightest  that  ever  dawned  upon  a  faithful 
people.  May  the  real  spirit  of  Christ  yet  be  so 
triumphantly  infused  amongst  those  who  profess  to 
obey  his  teachings,  that  with  one  voice  and  one  hand 
they  will  stay  the  persecutions  and  hush  the  sorrows 


180  Oratory  of  the  South 

of  these  their  wondrous  kinsmen,  put  them  forward 
into  the  places  of  honor  and  the  homes  of  love,  so  that 
all  the  lands  in  which  they  dwell  shall  be  not  home  to 
them  alone,  but  to  all  the  children  of  men  who, 
through  much  tribulation  and  with  heroic  manhood, 
have  waited  for  this  dawning  with  a  faith  whose 
constant  cry  through  all  the  dreary  watches  of  the 
night  has  been:  "Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust 
in  Him." 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  SENATOR  VANCE 

CHARLES  W.  TILLETT 
Of  the  Charlotte  (N.  C.)  Bar 

[A  funeral  oration  delivered  at  a  memorial  service  held 
in  Charlotte,  N.  C.,  the  home  of  Senator  Vance,  shortly 
after  his  death  in  1894.  Senator  Vance  was  perhaps  the 
best  beloved  and  most  highly  honored  citizen  that  North 
Carolina  has  ever  produced.  As  Governor  of  the  State  he 
was  a  tower  of  strength  in  breaking  the  power  of  the  Recon 
struction  hordes  of  the  North.  He  was  also  one  of  the  most 
famous  wits  that  the  country  ever  produced.  He  lived  close 
to  the  people,  and  was  familiarly  known  as  "Zeb  Vance."] 

"Zeb  Vance  is  dead!"  Few  and  short  are  the 
cruel  words  which  men  with  lips  compressed  and 
cheeks  all  blanched  have  whispered  one  to  other; 
and  yet  they  bear  the  message  of  the  greatest  grief 
which  ever  yet  has  filled  the  Old  North  State. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  Ring  out  the  funeral  bells 
and  let  their  mournful  tones  re-echo  in  the  empty 
chambers  of  the  hearts  once  filled  with  gladsome 
sounds  of  his  loved  voice. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead !  And  Mirth  herself  hath  put 
on  mourning ;  and  Laughter,  child  of  his  most  genial 
brain,  hath  hid  her  face  in  tears. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead !     The  fires  of  party  strife  are 


Charles  W.  Tillett  181 

quenched;  and  throbbing  hearts  and  tear-beclouded 
eyes  tell  more  than  words  of  grandest  eloquence  the 
anguish  of  the  people's  minds  and  how  they  loved 
him. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead  I  The  Scattered  Nation  gathers 
round  his  tomb  and  weeps.  No  High  Priest,  clad 
in  Heaven-appointed  robes,  e'er  plead  the  cause  of 
Israel's  race  more  valiantly  than  he. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  Soldier,  statesman,  patriot, 
friend.  In  war  and  peace  the  one  of  all  her  sons 
to  whom  his  mother  State  looked  most  for  succor 
and  relief;  and  can  it  be  that  in  the  days  to  come, 
when  dreaded  dangers  threaten  all  around,  we  never 
more  can  call  for  him  before  whose  matchless  powers 
in  days  gone  by  our  enemies  have  quailed  and  fled? 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  His  was  a  name  to  conjure 
with ;  and  ofttimes  in  the  past,  when  this  loved  Com 
monwealth  of  ours  was  stirred  to  inmost  depths,  and 
men  knew  not  which  way  to  go  nor  what  to  say,  the 
cry  was  sounded  forth,  "Our  Vance  is  coming!"  and 
from  the  mountain  fastness  of  the  west  and  from  the 
everglades  of  eastern  plains,  the  people  came  who 
never  would  come  forth  to  hear  another  living  man, 
and  gathering  round  in  countless  multitudes,  they 
hung  upon  his  every  word  with  eager,  listening  ear, 
and  all  he  told  them  they  believed  because  uour 
Vance"  had  said  it. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead !  And  whence  shall  come  the 
man  to  tell  the  world  the  soul-inspiring  story  of  his 
hero  life?  How,  coming  forth  from  humble  home, 
he  baffled  and  o'ercame  the  fates  that  would  have 
crushed  beneath  their  feet  a  man  of  meaner  mold; 
how  serving  faithfully  and  well  in  every  trust  com 
mitted  unto  him,  he  soon  won  first  place  in  the  hearts 
of  all  his  countrymen  and  held  that  place  for  three 
score  years  unto  the  end;  how,  when  his  native  land 
was  plunged  in  throes  of  civil  strife,  he  went  forth 


182  Oratory  of  the  South 

in  the  front  rank  to  defend  and  save,  and  fought  with 
valor  all  her  foes;  how  called  to  rule  as  chief  execu 
tive  in  times  that  tried  men's  souls,  he  ruled  so  wisely 
and  so  well;  how  when  the  war  was  over  and  the 
cause  was  lost — when  down  upon  his  bleeding  pros 
trate  country  came  the  horde  of  vampires  from  the 
North  to  suck  the  last  remaining  drop  of  life  blood 
from  his  people,  he  rose  with  power  almost  divine 
and  drove  them  back;  and  then  with  gentle  hand 
he  caused  the  wounds  to  heal  and  his  loved  land  to 
prosper  once  again  as  in  the  days  gone  by;  and  how 
at  last,  when  after  years  of  faithful,  honest  toil,  upon 
his  noble  form  was  laid  the  icy  hand  of  Death,  he 
bowed  his  head  in  meek  submission  to  His  will  and 
yielded  up  to  God  his  manly  soul!  Who  can  be 
found  to  sing  the  praise  of  such  an  one,  and  who  can 
speak  the  anguish  of  the  people's  hearts  at  his  un 
timely  death? 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  He  was  the  friend  and  tri 
bune  of  the  people.  For  though  he  rose  to  place 
where  he  held  converse  with  the  great  and  mighty  of 
the  earth,  his  sympathetic  heart  was  open  wide  to  all 
mankind,  and  his  strong  arm  was  first  stretched  forth 
to  raise  the  lowliest  of  the  sons  of  men  that  cried  to 
him  for  help;  and  in  the  Nation's  Senate  halls  his 
voice  was  ever  lifted  up  to  plead  the  cause  of  the 
downtrodden  and  oppressed  against  the  favored 
classes  and  the  money  kings. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  And  when  he  died,  a  poor 
man  died;  for  though  he  stood  where  oft  there  was 
within  his  grasp  the  gains  of  millions  if  he  would  but 
swerve  from  right  to  reach  it,  he  cast  it  all  aside 
with  scorn,  and  dying,  left  his  sons,  and  all  the  people 
of  his  land,  the  priceless  gift  of  an  untarnished  name. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  And  yet  he  lives;  the  in 
fluence  of  his  noble  words  and  honest  life  can  never 
die;  and  in  the  years  to  come  men  gathering  round 


John  M.  Allen  183 

their  firesides  at  the  evening  hour  shall  tell  their  sons 
of  him  and  how  he  scorned  a  lie  and  scorned  dishonest 
gains. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  But  he  shall  live  forever- 
more!  Oh,  blessed  truth,  which  Mary's  Son,  the 
God-man,  taught  when  standing  near  the  tomb  with 
His  all-conquering  foot  upon  the  "skull  of  death," 
called  Lazarus  forth  to  life  again  and  told  a  listening 
world  the  thrilling  truth  that  whosoever  lived  and  in 
His  name  believed,  should  never  die. 

Zeb  Vance  is  dead!  If  it  be  truth  that  men  may 
rise  on  stepping-stones  of  their  dead  selves  to  higher 
things,  oh,  grander  truth,  that  a  nation,  too,  may  rise 
on  stepping-stones  of  her  dead  hero  sons  unto  a  higher 
life.  And  God  vouchsafe  that  our  own  State,  while 
weeping  o'er  the  grave  of  him,  her  best-loved,  most 
honored  son,  may  by  its  very  grief  be  lifted  into  a 
grander,  nobler  life. 


THE  GREAT  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

JOHN  M.  ALLEN 

Some    time    a    Congressman    from    Mississippi;     popularly 
known  as  "Private  John  Allen" 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the 
Chicago  Real  Estate  Board,  January  17,  1902.] 

I  do  not  know  exactly  about  the  propriety  of  the 
subject  that  was  assigned  to  me.  Tupelo  is  not  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  You  know  there  should 
always  be  some  regard  to  the  proprieties  of  the  toast 
assigned,  and  I  am  better  prepared  to  speak  on  the 
region  outside  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  than  that  in 
it.  I  noticed  a  gentleman  complaining  some  time 
ago  about  being  asked  to  speak  to  a  toast — a  gentle 
man  with  one  eye  and  one  arm  asked  to  speak  to  the 
toast  of  "Our  Absent  Members." 


184  Oratory  of  the  South 

The  Mississippi  Valley  gives  a  man  abroad  subject. 
It  reminds  me  a  good  deal  of  a  man  I  heard  deliver 
an  address  down  in  my  country  one  night.  He  said : 
"Ladies  and  gentlemen,  as  I  came  to  your  beautiful 
city  this  evening  some  of  your  citizens  very  kindly 
invited  me  to  deliver  an  address  to-night,  and  as  I 
came  down  to  the  hall  I  thought  upon  what  subject 
I  should  address  you,  and  it  just  occurred  to  me  to 
speak  on  'The  Past,  the  Present,  and  the  Future.'  ' 
The  Mississippi  Valley  is  almost  as  extensive  as  his 
subject.  It  is  a  subject  like  what  the  negro  said  about 
preaching.  Somebody  asked  him  if  he  was  a  preacher, 
and  he  said,  uNo,  I  am  just  an  exhorter."  "What's 
the  difference  between  preaching  and  exhorting?"  he 
was  asked.  He  said,  "There's  a  great  deal.  In 
preaching  you  must  take  a  text  and  stick  to  it,  but 
in  exhorting  you  can  branch."  Now  when  you  come 
to  the  Mississippi  Valley  you  can  branch. 

No  stream  in  the  world  ever  drained  such  a  mag 
nificent  empire  as  the  Mississippi  River  drains.  You 
know  that  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  a  section  of 
country  that  embraces  eight  of  our  great  States,  two 
of  our  great  Territories,  and  a  good  deal  of  twenty 
other  States  that  are  really  the  heart  of  this  great 
country  of  ours.  It  is  capable  of  producing,  when 
fully  developed,  food  to  feed  the  world,  cotton  and 
wool  to  clothe  the  world,  lumber  to  house  the  world, 
coal  to  warm  the  world,  and  gold  and  silver  to  carry 
on  the  commerce  of  the  world.  No  person  who  has 
ever  thought  about  it  can  contemplate  the  great  re 
sources  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  It  has  in  it  all 
sorts  of  climate  that  a  real,  thorough,  genuine  citizen 
would  want  to  live  in.  You  can  get  it  just  as  cold  or 
just  as  hot  as  you  want  it.  The  Valley  has  in  it  all 
sorts  of  people — all  sorts  of  good  people.  I  know 
more  about  the  people  in  the  lower  Mississippi  Val 
ley  than  I  do  those  in  the  higher  up  country.  I  was 


John  M.  Allen  185 

engaged  some  years  ago  in  a  little  enterprise  that 
undertook  to  split  up  the  Valley,  you  know.  I  finally 
succumbed  to  arguments  used  by  some  of  the  gentle 
men  higher  up  the  Valley.  Down  in  the  lower  part 
of  it,  in  what  we  know  down  South  as  the  Mississippi 
bottoms,  the  Delta,  there  is,  in  my  judgment,  to-day 
the  richest  land — you  know  it  is  the  cream  of  all 
this  great  valley  that  has  been  drained  by  the  Mis 
sissippi  River  for  thousands  of  years,  taking  a  little 
off  here  and  a  little  off  there,  and  depositing  it  down 
in  what  is  known  as  the  Mississippi  Delta.  We  used 
to  think,  you  know,  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
waste  land  in  the  Delta,  but  it  is  being  gradually 
brought  into  cultivation,  and  there,  in  a  few  years,  will 
be  a  comparatively  small  section  of  country  that  has 
the  richness,  the  fertility,  the  capacity  for  producing 
almost  anything  man  wants,  that  will  almost  feed 
and  clothe  the  world.  You  know  you  used  just  to 
make  cotton  goods  out  of  cotton.  Now  you  make 
silk  and  wool  and  linen  and  everything — all  out  of 
cotton.  That  is  the  place  where  it  grows  in  perfec 
tion. 

I  don't  know  exactly  what  the  Mississippi  Valley 
has  got  to  do  with  the  real  estate  business  in  Chicago, 
but  I  suppose  you  all  want  to  know  something  about 
it,  and  I  want  to  tell  you,  gentlemen, — I  have  been 
pretty  much  all  over  it, — the  whole  face  of  the  earth 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  covered  with  real  estate. 
You  know  a  great  deal  of  this  territory  was  acquired 
in  the  Louisiana  Purchase  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  real  estate 
deals  that  ever  took  place,  and  proved  to  be  a  most 
profitable  transaction.  I  have  never  struck  a  real 
estate  man  who  had  a  corner  lot  to  sell  from  that 
time  since  but  who  has  tried  to  convince  me  that  there 
was  the  same  sort  of  bargain  in  what  he  had  to  sell 
that  Thomas  Jefferson  got  in  his  trade  with  Na- 


186  Oratory  of  the  South 

poleon.  But  it  can  be  truthfully  said  that  braver 
men  never  rode  finer  horses  over  richer  land  to  see 
fairer  women  than  those  that  live  and  have  lived  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley. 


THE  MYSTERIES  AND  GLORIES  OF  DU- 
LUTH  AND  THE  ST.  CROIX 

J.  PROCTOR  KNOTT 

Congressman    from    Kentucky,     1866-1880;    Governor    of 
Kentucky,   1883-1887 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  January  27,  1871,  on  the  "St.  Crojx  and  Bay- 
field  Railroad  Bill."  At  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  this 
speech  the  country  was  fairly  entering  the  period  of  astonish 
ing  development  following  the  Civil  War.  It  was  also  a 
time  of  wild  speculation.  "Lands  inhabited  only  by  wild 
animals  and  Indians  were  covered  all  over — on  maps  and 
prospectuses — with  a  network  of  railroad  and  telegraph 
lines."  Mr.  Knott's  speech  on  Duluth,  made  at  the  height 
of  this  speculative  fever,  so  appealed  to  the  sense  of  the  ridic 
ulous  that  it  was  quoted  and  laughed  over  as  no  speech 
made  in  Congress  ever  had  been  before.] 

Years  ago,  when  I  first  heard  that  there  was  some 
where  in  the  vast  terra  incognita,  somewhere  in  the 
bleak  regions  of  the  great  Northwest,  a  stream  of 
water  known  to  the  nomadic  inhabitants  of  the  neigh 
borhood  as  the  River  St.  Croix,  I  became  satisfied 
that  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  that  raging 
torrent  to  some  point  in  the  civilized  world  was 
essential  to  the  happiness  of  the  American  people, 
if  not  absolutely  indispensable  to  the  perpetuity 
of  republican  institutions  on  this  continent.  I 
felt  instinctively  that  the  boundless  resources  of  that 
prolific  region  of  sand  and  pine  shrubbery  would 
never  be  fully  developed  without  a  railroad  con 
structed  and  equipped  at  the  expense  of  the  Govern- 


J.  Proctor  Knott  187 

ment, — and  perhaps  not  then.  I  had  an  abiding 
presentiment  that  some  day  the  people  of  this  whole 
country,  irrespective  of  party  affiliations,  and  "with 
out  distinction  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition 
of  servitude,"  would  rise  in  their  majesty  and  demand 
an  outlet  for  the  enormous  agricultural  productions 
of  those  vast  and  fertile  pine  barrens,  drained  in  the 
rainy  season  by  the  surging  waters  of  the  turbid  St. 
Croix. 

Who  will  have  the  hardihood  to  rise  in  his  seat  on 
this  floor  and  assert  that,  excepting  the  pine  bushes, 
the  entire  region  would  not  produce  vegetation 
enough  in  ten  years  to  fatten  a  grasshopper  ?  Where 
is  the  patriot  who  is  willing  that  his  country 
shall  incur  the  peril  of  remaining  another  day 
without  the  amplest  railroad  connection  with  such 
an  inexhaustible  mine  of  agricultural  wealth?  Who 
will  answer  for  the  consequences  of  abandoning  a 
great  and  warlike  people,  in  possession  of  a  country 
like  that,  to  brood  over  the  indifference  and  neglect 
of  their  Government  ?  How  long  would  it  be  before 
they  take  to  studying  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  hatching  out  the  damnable  heresy  of  Secession? 
How  long  before  the  grim  demon  of  civil  discord 
would  rear  again  his  horrid  head  in  our  midst,  "gnash 
loud  his  iron  fangs  and  shake  his  crest  of  bristling 
bayonets"?  But  above  all,  sir,  let  me  implore  you 
to  reflect  for  a  single  moment  on  the  deplorable  con 
dition  of  our  country  in  case  of  a  foreign  war,  with 
all  our  ports  blockaded,  all  our  cities  in  a  state  of 
siege,  the  gaunt  specter  of  famine  brooding  like  a 
hungry  vulture  over  our  starving  land;  our  commis 
sary  stores  all  exhausted,  and  our  famishing  armies 
withering  away  in  the  field,  a  helpless  prey  to  the 
insatiate  demon  of  hunger;  our  navy  rotting  in  the 
docks  for  want  of  provisions  for  our  gallant  seamen — 


188  Oratory  of  the  South 

and  we  without  any  railroad  communication  what 
ever  with  the  prolific  pine  thickets  of  the  St.  Croix. 

Now,  sir,  I  repeat  I  have  been  satisfied  for  years 
that  if  there  was  any  portion  of  the  inhabited  globe 
absolutely  in  a  suffering  condition  for  want  of  a 
railroad,  it  was  these  teeming  pine  barrens  of  the  St. 
Croix.  At  what  particular  point  on  that  noble 
stream  such  a  road  should  be  commenced,  I  knew 
was  immaterial.  It  might  be  up  at  the  spring,  or 
down  at  the  foot  log,  or  the  water-gate,  or  the  fish- 
dam,  or  anywhere  along  the  bank,  no  matter  where. 
But  in  what  direction  it  should  run,  or  where  it  should 
terminate,  were  always  to  my  mind  questions  of  the 
most  painful  perplexity.  I  was  utterly  at  a  loss  to 
determine  where  the  terminus  of  this  great  and  in 
dispensable  road  should  be,  until  I  accidentally  over 
heard  some  gentleman  the  other  day  mention  the 
name  of  "Duluth."  Duluth !  The  word  fell  upon  my 
ear  with  peculiar  and  indescribable  charm,  like  the 
gentle  murmur  of  a  low  fountain  stealing  forth  in 
the  midst  of  roses,  or  the  soft,  sweet  accents  of  an 
angel's  whisper  in  the  bright,  joyous  dream  of  sleep 
ing  innocence.  Duluth  1  'Twas  the  name  for  which 
my  soul  had  panted  for  years,  as  the  hart  panteth 
for  the  water-brooks.  But  where  was  Duluth? 
Never,  in  all  my  limited  reading,  had  my  vision  been 
gladdened  by  seeing  the  celestial  word  in  print.  And 
I  felt  a  profounder  humiliation  in  my  ignorance  that 
its  dulcet  syllables  had  never  before  ravished  my 
delighted  ear.  And,  sir,  had  it  not  been  for  this 
map,  kindly  furnished  me  by  the  Legislature  of  Min 
nesota,  I  might  have  gone  down  to  my  obscure  and 
humble  grave  in  an  agony  of  despair,  because  I  could 
nowhere  find  Duluth.  Had  such  been  my  melan 
choly  fate,  I  have  no  doubt  that  with  the  last  feeble 
pulsation  of  my  breaking  heart,  with  the  last  faint 


J.  Proctor  Knott  189 

exhalation  of  my  fleeting  breath,  I  should  have  whis 
pered,  "Where  is  Duluth?" 

I  find  by  reference  to  this  map  that  Duluth  is  situ 
ated  somewhere  near  the  western  end  of  Lake 
Superior;  but  as  there  is  no  dot  or  other  mark  in 
dicating  its  exact  location,  I  am  unable  to  say  whether 
it  is  actually  confined  to  any  particular  spot,  or 
whether  "it  is  just  lying  around  there  loose."  But 
however  that  may  be,  I  am  satisfied  Duluth  is  there, 
or  thereabout,  for  I  see  it  stated  here  on  this  map 
that  it  is  exactly  3,990  miles  from  Liverpool,  though 
I  have  no  doubt,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  it  will 
be  moved  back  ten  miles,  so  as  to  make  the  distance 
an  even  4,000. 

As  to  the  commercial  resources  of  Duluth,  sir,  they 
are  simply  illimitable  and  inexhaustible,  as  is  shown 
by  this  map.  I  find  here  indicated,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  Piegan  Indians,  "vast  herds  of  buf 
falo"  and  "immense  fields  of  rich  wheat  lands." 
This  fortunate  combination  satisfies  me  that  Duluth 
is  destined  to  be  the  beef  market  of  the  world.  Note 
that  the  buffaloes  are  directly  between  the  Piegans 
and  Duluth,  and  that  right  on  the  road  to  Duluth  are 
the  Creeks.  Now,  sir,  when  the  buffaloes  are  suffi 
ciently  fat  from  grazing  on  these  immense  wheat 
fields,  you  see  that  it  will  be  the  easiest  thing  in  the 
world  for  the  Piegans  to  drive  them  on  down,  stay 
all  night  with  their  friends,  the  Creeks,  and  go  into 
Duluth  in  the  morning  I  think  I  see  them  now,  sir, 
a  vast  herd  of  buffaloes,  with  their  heads  down,  their 
eyes  glaring,  their  nostrils  dilated,  their  tongues  out, 
and  their  tails  curled  over  their  backs,  tearing  along 
toward  Duluth,  with  about  a  thousand  Piegans  on 
their  grass-bellied  ponies,  yelling  at  their  heels !  On 
they  come !  And  as  they  sweep  past  the  Creeks  they 
join  in  the  chase,  and  away  they  all  go,  yelling,  bel 
lowing,  ripping,  and  tearing  along,  amid  clouds  of 


190  Oratory  of  the  South 

dust,  until  the  last  buffalo  is  safely  penned  in  the 
'stockyards  of  Duluth ! 

Sir,  I  might  stand  here  for  hours  and  hours  and 
expatiate  with  rapture  upon  the  gorgeous  prospects 
of  Duluth,  as  depicted  upon  this  map.  But  human 
life  is  too  short  and  the  time  of  this  House  far  too 
valuable  to  allow  me  to  linger  longer  upon  the  de 
lightful  theme.  I  think  every  gentleman  on  this  floor 
is  as  well  satisfied  as  I  am  that  Duluth  is  destined 
to  become  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  universe, 
and  that  this  road  should  be  built  at  once.  I  am 
fully  persuaded  that  no  patriotic  Representative  of 
the  American  people,  who  has  a  proper  appreciation 
of  the  associated  glories  of  Duluth  and  the  St.  Croix, 
will  hesitate  a  moment  to  say  that  every  able-bodied 
female  in  the  land  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and 
forty-five  who  is  in  favor  of  "women's  rights"  should 
be  drafted  and  set  to  work  upon  this  great  work  with 
out  delay. 

Nevertheless,  sir,  it  grieves  my  very  soul  to  be 
compelled  to  say  that  I  cannot  vote  for  the  grant  of 
lands  provided  for  in  this  bill.  Ah!  sir,  you  can 
have  no  conception  of  the  poignancy  of  my  anguish 
that  I  am  deprived  of  that  blessed  privilege !  There 
are  two  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  way.  In  the 
first  place  my  constituents,  for  whom  I  am  acting 
here,  have  not  the  remotest  interest  in  this  road;  and 
in  the  second  place  these  lands,  which  I  am  asked  to 
give  away,  alas,  are  not  mine  to  bestow!  My 
relation  to  them  is  simply  that  of  trustee  to  an  ex 
press  trust.  And  shall  I  ever  betray  that  trust? 
Never,  sir!  Rather  perish  Duluth!  Perish  the 
paragon  of  cities!  Rather  let  the  freezing  cyclones 
of  the  bleak  Northwest  bury  it  forever  beneath  the 
eddying  sands  of  the  raging  St.  Croix ! 


Clarence  N.  Ousley  191 

MAN'S  RESPONSIBILITY  TO  THE 
HIGHER  LAW 

CLARENCE  N.  OUSLEY 
Editor  of  the  Fort  Worth  (Tex.)  Record 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  literary 
societies  of  the  University  of  Texas,  June  18,  1900.] 

There  comes  a  period  in  the  development  of  every 
mind  when  it  doubts  the  impalpable.  But  there 
comes  another  period  in  the  progress  of  the  learned 
mind  when  it  recognizes  its  limitations,  when  it  stands 
upon  the  frontier  of  thought  and  looks  across  an  un 
discovered  plain  where  no  footstep  marks  the  thither 
way  and  faith  is  the  only  compass  that  points  a  path. 
Then  man  must  acknowledge  himself  an  outcast  in 
the  wilderness  of  accident  or  a  child  of  the  Infinite 
who  will  in  time  gather  his  own. 

Probably  some  of  you  have  reached  the  period  of 
doubt.  It  usually  comes  about  the  knowing  age  of 
twenty.  But  I  charge  you  not  to  fling  away  faith 
because  you  know  so  much  now.  By  experience  I 
predict  you  will  know  less  twenty  years  hence,  and 
it  will  be  time  enough  then  to  determine  whether 
belief  in  the  spiritual  is  incompatible  with  knowledge 
of  the  material;  and  the  nearer  you  get  to  the  jour 
ney's  end  the  more  comforting  will  be  the  thought 
that  a  pillar  of  cloud  will  lead  the  way  through  the 
wilderness  and  a  pillar  of  fire  will  light  the  darkness 
of  the  nether  night. 

Whatever  our  faith  or  our  creed,  we  must  all  own 
the  allegiance  of  the  created  to  the  Creator.  We 
must  recognize  our  responsibility  to  the  higher  law. 
We  understand  the  law  though  we  may  not  compre 
hend  the  law-giver,  and  we  cannot  transgress  the  law 
without  becoming  criminals. 

Even  if  we  could  dismiss  the  decalogue  as  the  com- 


192  Oratory  of  the  South 

mandments  of  an  antiquated  God  and  the  injunc 
tions  of  the  Nazarene  as  the  mockery  of  a  false 
prophet,  there  would  remain  to  every  man  the  law  of 
conscience,  which  is  common  to  the  savage  and  the 
civilized,  and  which  we  cannot  offend  without  becom 
ing  outlaws. 

Therefore,  whether  we  are  Deists  or  Christians  or 
Agnostics,  we  are  subject  to  the  higher  law,  and  if 
we  do  not  obey  it  we  are  law  breakers.  This  is  as 
simple  and  logical  as  the  consequence  of  the  infrac 
tion  of  State  law,  and  the  individual  who  violates 
the  higher  law  deserves  punishment  and  execration 
precisely  as  the  individual  who  violates  the  State  law 
deserves  the  penitentiary  and  social  ostracism.  But 
it  is  one  of  the  flagrant  inconsistencies  of  the  social 
code  that  we  turn  our  backs  upon  the  petty  criminal 
and  strike  hands  with  the  social  outlaw.  Pure 
women  who  would  flee  from  a  thief  as  from  contagion 
will  take  to  their  hearts  men  who  know  not  con 
science  or  virtue ;  and  men  who  would  not  walk  down 
the  street  with  a  prisoner  of  the  police  court  will 
make  boon  companions  of  those  who  abuse  the  license 
of  commerce  or  the  weakness  of  the  statutes  and  rob 
their  fellows  of  millions. 

More  than  we  need  laws  to  regulate  commerce  we 
need  action  to  educate  conscience ;  more  than  we  need 
reform  crusades  we  need  uncompromising  standards 
of  right  living  on  guard  at  the  doors  of  our  homes; 
and  more  than  we  need  anything  in  legislation  or 
social  economy  we  need  a  universal  sense  of  respon 
sibility  to  the  higher  law  and  the  God  who  framed  it. 

Youth  often  gets  into  its  head  the  vicious  notion 
that  it  is  a  brave  thing  to  be  wicked.  Nothing  is 
more  false.  To  be  wicked  is  simply  to  follow  the 
impulse  of  the  brute.  To  be  righteous  is  to  subdue 
the  animal,  and  it  requires  more  courage  to  overcome 
a  single  temptation  than  to  lead  a  life  of  illicit  ad- 


Clarence  N.  Ousley  193 

venture.  The  real  cowards  are  the  profligates  and 
the  rakes  who  drift  lazily  down  the  tide  of  passion 
without  daring  to  grasp  the  helm  or  set  a  sail.  There 
is  nothing  admirable  or  inspiring  about  wicked 
ness.  For  all  there  are  a  few  hypocrites  who  excite 
the  world's  contempt  and  a  few  good-for-nothing 
saints,  in  the  main  the  great  men  of  state,  the  strong 
men  of  business,  and  the  wise  men  of  learning  are 
moral,  pious,  Godly  and  God-fearing,  while  the  im 
moral  and  the  Godless  are  without  position  or  in 
fluence. 

This  is  a  Christian  land,  and  we  owe  respect,  if 
not  loyalty,  to  Christian  institutions.  They  are  the 
safeguards  of  society.  Without  them  to-day  the 
moral  universe  would  be  chaos.  We  may  reject 
dogma  and  revile  creed;  we  may  ridicule  the  emo 
tionalism  of  religion  and  smile  at  the  threatenings  of 
theology;  but  we  cannot  deny  the  truth  of  Christian 
living,  we  cannot  forget  the  achievements  of  Chris 
tian  endeavor,  we  cannot  afford  to  lose  the  saving 
grace  of  Christian  influence. 

Christianity  is  the  most  intelligent  expression  of 
the  higher  law  that  has  yet  been  given  to  the  world. 
It  is  the  most  reasonable  faith  that  the  religious  in 
stinct  of  the  universal  man  has  found  to  satisfy  its 
spiritual  aspiration.  It  is  the  latest  if  not  the  last 
formula  of  the  eternal  verities.  Its  teachings  are 
above  the  philosophic  wisdom  of  all  the  ages.  Its 
phenomena  have  given  man  a  conception  if  not  a 
glimpse  of  the  Almighty  Father.  Its  hopes  foretell 
the  spiritual  destiny  if  not  the  physical  translation  of 
the  human  race.  If  it  is  not  true  altogether,  it  is 
so  sublime  a  fiction  that  it  is  nothing  less  than  inspira 
tion. 

To  this  supreme  and  splendid  principle  of  noble 
and  ennobling  life  we  owe  personal  and  mutual 
responsibility.  To  the  higher  law  which  it  expresses 

13 


194  Oratory  of  the  South 

we  are  pledged  in  the  bond  of  good  conscience  and 
in  the  discretion  of  the  common  weal. 

I  charge  you,  as  you  respect  yourselves,  take  heed 
of  your  responsibility  to  your  birth  and  station;  as 
you  love  your  country,  look  well  to  your  fellowman; 
as  yet  you  rank  the  race  higher  than  the  brute;  re 
member  the  God  who  made  you  in  his  image  and 
gave  you  the  uplift  of  immortal  hope. 


JEFFERSONIAN  DEMOCRACY 

W.  C.   P.  BRECKENRIDGE 
For  some  time  a  Congressman  from  Kentucky 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  Iri- 
quois  Club,  Chicago,  April  13,  1883.] 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  in  its  loftiest  sense  a  Demo 
crat;  he  loved,  he  trusted,  the  people;  he  loved  his 
race;  he  was  indeed  a  man,  and  there  was  nothing 
human  that  was  foreign  to  him.  He  deified  man  as 
man,  and  despised  and  feared  all  that  could  create 
classes  or  ranks.  Man  as  man  was  free  and  capable 
of  self-government,  was  the  postulate  of  all  his 
thinking.  This  was  the  starting-point  of  all  his 
meditations.  All  men  ought  to  be  free,  all  men  shall 
be  free,  all  men  will  be  free,  was  the  conviction,  the 
resolve,  the  hope  of  his  life.  His  part  was  to  assist 
in  making  America  free.  This  was  duplex — one 
part  was  to  secure  such  a  government  as  would  pro 
tect  and  maintain  freedom;  the  other  was  to  estab 
lish  a  policy  that  would  in  the  end  embrace  the  con 
tinent.  With  such  a  government  expansion  was  pos 
sible;  neither  the  number  nor  the  size  of  the  States, 
nor  the  extent  of  population  or  territory,  need  cause 
alarm  or  change.  If  men  are  free — if  governments 
are  founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed;  if  local 


W.  C.  P.  Breckenridge  195 

governments  are  sovereign  and  federal  governments 
can  be  limited  by  written  compacts  or  constitutions, 
then  the  possibility  and  modification  of  mere  forms 
become  infinite.  If  the  object  of  all  governments  is 
to  protect  these  inalienable  rights,  and  freemen  can 
secure  that  protection  by  a  union  of  states  under  one 
compact,  then  there  is  no  permanent  failure  of  free 
government  possible  except  on  the  single  hypothesis 
that  man  is  incapable  of  self-government. 

Jefferson  rejected  this  hypothesis  for  himself,  his 
race,  and  his  country,  and  accepted  with  a  loving, 
trusting  faith  in  mankind  the  verity  of  his  hopes. 
But  there  must  be  room  for  the  development  of  such 
principles,  and  he  held  the  continent  to  be  ours.  This 
was  the  cherished  hope  of  many  of  that  day. 
Neither  mountain  nor  river,  nor  savage,  nor  French 
man,  nor  Spaniard,  nor  wilderness  was  permitted  to 
obstruct  this  glorious  view  of  a  homogeneous  and 
ocean-bound  republic  of  freemen.  They  were 
pioneers  of  a  new  and  magnificent  world.  The 
ancient  kingdoms  were  to  be  surpassed  by  this  new 
people  for  whom  God  had  preserved  this  virgin  and 
enchanting  continent.  The  frozen  North  and  the 
tropic  South  were  to  prosper  under  one  flag — the  flag 
of  the  free.  This  new  empire  was  to  dictate  law  to 
the  world,  restore  peace  to  the  earth,  give  liberty  to 
the  oppressed.  Here  were  ample  homes  to  be  found 
for  the  poor,  and  plenty  for  the  starving.  The  new 
era  of  a  nobler  brotherhood,  the  sunlit  dawn  of 
a  new  day,  had  begun,  and  mankind  was  to  find 
ampler  room  and  fresher  fields  for  higher  develop 
ment.  To  Jefferson  these  dreams  were  actualities, 
and  with  a  minuteness  of  details  and  a  practical 
statesmanship  that  were  equal  to  the  prophetic  con 
ception,  he  secured  freedom  by  the  abolishment  of 
a  state  religion;  he  destroyed  an  aristocracy  based 
on  wealth  by  abolishing  the  law  of  entails  and  primo- 


196  Oratory  of  the  South 

geniture;  he  made  naturalization  easy;  he  dedicated 
the  Northwest  to  a  common  country  and  to  become 
free  States ;  he  ordered  George  Rogers  Clark  to  seize 
the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  River;  he  aided  the 
pioneers  of  Kentucky  to  form  a  new  State  on  the 
basis  of  universal  suffrage  and  equal  representation 
based  on  numbers,  and  tried  with  .almost  superhuman 
powers  to  abolish  slavery.  By  these  wonderful 
achievements  the  new  republic  began  its  career  with 
the  freedom  of  religion,  freedom  from  possible  aris 
tocracy,  and  the  certainty  of  the  addition  of  new 
States. 

Have  we  reached  the  end?  Has  the  future  no 
conquests  for  freedom  ?  Must  we  live  in  the  past,  and 
content  ourselves  with  recounting  the  triumphs  of  the 
fathers?  Shall  our  sons  have  no  laurels  of  their  own 
winning  to  wear?  What  can  limit  the  horizon  of 
our  hopes.  What  may  we  not  expect?  As  we  re 
call  all  the  glories  of  the  past,  as  we  exult  in  the 
prospect  of  the  present,  why  should  we  doubt  the 
possibilities  of  the  future.  It  has  in  store  its  own 
conquests — conquests  by  steam  and  commerce  and 
inevitable  fate. 

We  hear  much  of  a  revival  of  the  faith  of  our 
fathers,  of  going  back  to  the  days  of  the  fathers. 
Democrats,  our  fathers  were  progressive;  they  be 
lieved  in  the  people,  they  trusted  the  people,  they 
were  the  true  radicals.  We  must  raise  once  more  the 
standard  of  the  Democracy  that  was  once  full  of 
hope,  candor,  and  courage,  for  it  had  no  secrets,  it 
had  no  improper  object,  and  it  had  the  people  at  its 
back.  I  pray  for  the  revival  of  that  courage — a 
courage  that  shot  deserters,  and  made  no  compro 
mise  of  principle  for  expediency;  for  a  revival  of 
that  candor  that  kept  nothing  hid  because  it  felt  that 
there  was  nothing  of  which  it  needed  be  ashamed.  It 
was  a  simple  creed  our  fathers  held, — a  Federal  gov- 


W.  C.  P.  Breckenridge  197 

ernment  supreme  in  its  sphere  of  limited  and  dele 
gated  powers,  State  governments  sovereign  in  their 
sphere;  an  impartial  and  just  distribution  of  the  pub 
lic  burdens,  so  imposed  that  each  paid  his  share,  and 
only  his  share,  of  the  public  tax;  no  imposition  of 
taxes  for  any  purpose  other  than  a  public  and  govern 
mental  object;  a  strict  economy  in  the  public  service; 
a  rigorous  responsibility  in  the  expenditure  of  the 
public  moneys ;  a  sound  currency  based  on  coin ;  care 
ful  regard  for  all  contracts,  and  scrupulous  perform 
ance  thereof  according  to  their  tenor;  implicit 
obedience  to  the  law ;  absolute  protection  at  home  and 
abroad  of  every  American  citizen;  the  freedom  of 
person,  of  speech,  and  of  franchise,  the  purity  of  the 
elective  franchise,  and  prompt  obedience  to  the  will 
of  the  people  as  expressed  at  the  polls;  cordial  rela 
tions  with  all  the  world  on  the  recognized  condition 
that  no  foreign  power  should  have  a  new  foothold  on 
this  continent;  warm  sympathy  for  all  people  not  so 
free  as  we,  an  earnest  welcome  to  all  who  would  cast 
their  lot  with  us ;  absolute  faith  in  the  honesty,  cour 
age,  and  intelligence  of  the  people,  and  in  the  growth, 
wisdom,  and  prosperity  of  their  country. 

Let  this  be  our  creed  to-day,  and  we  will  achieve 
for  our  posterity  what  our  fathers  did  for  us.  To 
lead  we  must  have  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and 
must  deserve  that  confidence.  Whenever  they  be 
lieve  that  the  Democratic  party  do  believe  in  that 
creed,  and  will  in  good  faith  administer  the  govern 
ment  in  the  spirit  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson — in  the 
spirit  of  economy  and  progress,  of  courage  and  fi 
delity — we  will-  be  given  power.  The  people  know 
their  power,  and  our  country's  destiny.  They  will 
follow  where  men  lead.  Inscribe  on  our  banners 
to-night  equal  and  exact  justice  to  every  citizen  and 
every  State;  a  just  distribution  of  the  public  burden; 
faithful  fulfillment  of  every  obligation;  strict  econ- 


198  Oratory  of  the  South 

omy  in  the  public  service;  trust  in  the  future — one 
flag,  one  country,  one  destiny — and  we  can  repeat, 
in  the  hopeful  words  of  him  whose  natal  day  we 
celebrate:  "We  should  have  such  an  empire  for 
liberty  as  she  has  never  surveyed  since  this  creation ! 
and  I  am  persuaded  no  constitution  was  ever  before 
so  well  calculated  as  ours  for  extensive  empire  and 
self-government." 


THE  MAN  WITH  HIS  HAT  IN  HIS  HAND 

CLARK  HOWELL 
Editor  of  the  Atlanta  Constitution 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  before  the  Indepen 
dent  Club,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  December  21,  1899.] 

On  the  day  I  received  the  invitation  to  address 
this  distinguished  gathering,  chance  took  me  to  the 
Federal  military  post  in  the  suburbs  of  my  city.  The 
Twenty-ninth  Regiment  of  United  States  Volunteers, 
then  quartered  there,  and  recently  landed  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Pacific,  had  that  day  received  orders 
for  their  trip  of  ten  thousand  miles.  The  troops 
were  formed  in  full  regimental  parade  in  the  presence 
of  thousands  of  spectators,  among  whom  were 
anxious  and  weeping  mothers,  loving  sisters  and 
sweethearts,  and  a  vast  multitude  of  others  who  had 
gone  to  look,  possibly  for  the  last  time,  upon  depart 
ing  friends. 

I  thought  of  the  homes  these  soldier  boys  were 
leaving,  the  loved  ones  left  to  nurse  their  anxious 
fears,  the  aged  mother's  last  caress,  the  father's  sad 
farewell.  And  I  thought  of  the  lot  these  patriot 
lads  had  chosen — the  tired  marches  beneath  the  blis 
tering  sun,  the  restless  nights  in  rain-soaked  tents 
that  kept  out  naught  but  sleep,  the  ambushed  shots 


Clark  Howell  199 

of  savages  and  the  bite  of  the  pagan's  lead.  I  saw 
hearts  then  strong  with  the  pulse  of  youth  stilled  by 
the  arrow's  sting;  eyes  then  bright  with  the  light  of 
life  stare  up  from  the  sodden  fields. 

Leaning  against  a  tree  close  beside  me  was  a  white- 
haired  mountaineer  who  looked  with  intent  eyes  and 
with  an  expression  of  the  keenest  sympathy  upon  the 
movements  of  the  men  in  uniform.  His  gaze  was 
riveted  on  the  regiment,  and  the  frequent  applause 
of  the  visiting  multitude  fell  apparently  unheard  on 
his  ears.  The  regiment  had  finished  its  evolutions; 
the  commissioned  officers  had  lined  themselves  to 
make  their  regulation  march  to  the  front  for  report 
and  dismissal.  The  bugler  had  sounded  the  signal; 
the  artillery  had  belched  its  adieu  as  the  king  of  day 
withdrew  beyond  the  hills;  the  halyard  had  been 
grasped,  and  the  flag  slowly  fell,  saluting  the  retiring 
sun.  As  the  flag  started  its  descent  the  scene  was 
characterized  by  a  solemnity  which  seemed  sacred  in 
its  intensity.  From  the  regimental  band  there  floated 
upon  the  stillness  of  the  autumn  evening  the  strains 
of  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  Instinctively  and 
apparently  unconsciously  my  tall  neighbor  by  the  tree 
removed  his  hat  from  his  head  and  held  it  in  his  hand 
in  reverential  recognition  until  the  flag  had  been 
furled  and  the  last  strain  of  the  national  anthem  had 
been  lost  in  the  resonant  tramp  of  the  troops  as  they 
left  the  field. 

What  a  picture  that  was — the  man  with  his  hat  in 
his  hand,  as  he  stood  uncovered  during  that  impres 
sive  ceremony!  I  moved  involuntarily  toward  him, 
and  impressed  with  his  reverential  attitude,  I  asked 
him  where  he  was  from.  "I  am,"  said  he,  "from 
Pickens  county;"  and  in  casual  conversation  it  de 
veloped  that  this  raw  mountaineer  had  come  to 
Atlanta  to  say  farewell  to  an  only  son  who  stood  in 
the  line  before  him,  and  upon  whom  his  tear-be- 


Oratory  of  the  South 

dimmed  eyes  might  then  be  resting  for  the  last  time. 
The  silent  exhibition  of  patriotism  and  loyalty  I  had 
just  witnessed  had  been  prompted  by  a  soul  as  rugged 
but  as  placid  as  the  great  blue  mountains  which  gave 
it  birth,  and  by  an  inspiration  kindled  from  the  very 
bosom  of  nature  itself. 

How  many  Americans  are  there  who  stand,  figura 
tively,  with  their  hats  in  their  hand,  to  the  honor  of 
their  country  and  the  glory  of  its  institutions?  Who 
does  not  follow  with  patriotic  but  pathetic  devotion 
the  hardships  of  the  boys  who  are  lined  to-night  in 
the  trenches  in  the  Philippines,  fighting  for  your  flag 
and  for  mine,  enduring  toil  and  privation,  and  sacri 
ficing  their  lives  that  they  may  carry  the  light  of 
civilization  and  the  message  of  American  progress 
and  prosperity  and  plant  them  upon  the  battlements 
of  darkness  and  discord. 

After  a  while  it  will  all  be  over.  Peace  will  be 
won,  and  then  our  real  work  will  begin.  The  school 
teacher  will  supplant  the  soldier,  and  the  caravans 
of  commerce  will  be  substituted  for  the  caissons  of 
artillery;  our  mission  will  be  understood,  and  our 
efforts  will  not  be  hindered.  Instead  of  our  arsenals, 
our  manufactories  will  supply  the  tonnage  that  will 
make  the  broad  bosom  of  the  Pacific  heave  in  the 
welcome  embrace  of  our  extended  commerce. 

And  when  this  is  done,  when  our  mission  shall 
have  been  fulfilled,  when  peace  reigns  and  law  and 
order  are  established,  when  the  usword  shall  be  beat 
into  the  plowshare"  and  the  rays  of  the  tropical  sun 
shall  kiss  the  fertile  fields  of  the  Philippines,  smiling 
in  the  plenitude  of  abundant  harvests,  and  the  homes 
of  their  people  shall  be  merry  with  the  music  of  con 
tentment — may  we  not  wonder,  hat  in  hand,  in 
humble  acknowledgment  of  the  divine  Providence 
which  "doeth  all  things  well,"  if  the  immortal  Grady 
was  inspired  when  he  said:  "I  catch  the  vision  of  the 


John  F.  Philips  201 

republic — its  mighty  forces  in  balance,  and  its  un 
speakable  glory  falling  on  all  its  children — working 
out  its  mission  under  God's  approving  eye,  until  the 
dark  continents  are  opened,  and  the  highways  of  the 
earth  established,  and  the  shadows  lifted,  and  the  jar 
gon  of  nations  stilled,  and  the  perplexities  of  the 
Babel  straightened — and  under  one  language,  one 
liberty,  and  one  God,  all  the  nations  of  the  world, 
harkening  to  the  American  drum-beat  and  girding  up 
their  loins,  shall  march  amid  the  breaking  of  the 
millennial  dawn  into  the  paths  of  righteousness  and 
of  peace." 


THE  OLD  SETTLER'S  HOME 

JOHN    F.    PHILIPS 

United  States  District  Court  Judge,  Western  District  of 

Missouri 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  the  fourth  reunion  of 
the  Tri-State  Old  Settlers  Association,  Keokuk,  Iowa,  Au 
gust  30,  1887.] 

The  sentiment  of  local  attachment  among  our  fa 
thers  had  a  deep  significance.  The  very  perils,  hard 
ships,  privations,  and  struggles  which  wrought  out  of 
a  dense  wilderness  and  the  untamed  earth  a  liveli 
hood,  and  constructed  a  State  by  the  slow  and  weary 
process  of  peopling  a  distant  territory,  not  only  made 
the  pioneer  sturdy,  bold,  and  self-assertive,  but  it 
begot  an  attachment,  akin  to  devotion,  for  every 
cranny  and  nook  where  life  was  so  hardly  lived.  It 
was  a  clinging  as  to  one's  own  creation.  Instinctively 
he  loved  the  government  that  stood  as  a  sentry  at  the 
rude  door;  that  bent  in  protection  over  his  cradle; 
that  inspired  his  youth;  and  gave  him  the  acquisi 
tions  of  his  manhood,  while  it  sheltered  his  old  age. 


202  Oratory  of  the  South 

There  is  another  characteristic  of  the  Old  Settler, 
which  tended  more  than  all  else  to  make  him  as 
tender  as  he  was  brave,  and  his  heart  a  flowing  spring 
of  generosity,  simplicity,  truth,  honor,  and  virtue. 
It  was  his  love  of  home. 

The  home  is  where  men  are  bred,  states  are  up- 
builded,  and  nations  glorified.  Around  it  cluster  the 
joys  and  gladness  of  childhood.  There  is  the  well- 
remembered  old  log  house,  with  "the  moss-covered 
bucket  that  hung  in  the  well,"  where  we  were  born. 
We  can  yet  see  the  narrow  window  where  the  moon 
beams  stole  in  and  played  on  our  locks  while  we  slept 
the  sweet  sleep  of  youth.  There  are  the  meadows 
with  "dew  on  the  grass  and  stars  in  the  dew,"  where 
we  chased  the  many-tinted  butterfly,  and  plucked  the 
cowslip  and  the  daisies. 

There  is  where  the  old-fashioned  mother,  who 
knew  no  book  better  than  the  old-fashioned  Bible, — 
King  James's  translation, — and  no  better  counselor 
than  her  honest,  pious  preacher,  tenderly  held  our 
little  hands  between  hers  and  taught  us  our  first 
prayer  and  sowed  the  seeds  of  the  reverence  for  re 
ligion  which  the  razure  of  time  and  the  vitriol  of 
modern  philosophy  have  never  effaced.  We  yet  re 
call  the  face,  that  scarce  lost  its  color  when  she  heard 
the  Indian's  yell  and  the  panther's  scream,  which 
beamed  as  a  benison  and  benediction  on  her  house 
hold.  The  last  rose  petal  had  already  dropped  from 
the  cheeks ;  the  luster  of  her  maiden  eyes  was  fading ; 
the  "brightest  feather  of  the  raven's  wing"  had  fallen 
from  her  hair,  and  old  Time  had  run  many  deep  fur 
rows  in  her  once  smooth  face.  But  she  was  queenly. 

She  did  not  want  to  vote,  nor  make  stump  speeches, 
nor  "hire  a  hall  and  howl,"  nor  care  to  be  a  justice 
of  the  peace.  But  at  the  vestal  fires  of  her  lofty  spirit 
embryo  genius  kindled;  and  there  went  out,  as  a 
pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  of  fire  by  night,  a  hallowed 


John  F.  Philips  203 

influence  to  lead  the  people.  With  an  intuitive  phil 
osophy  that  despises  not  the  day  of  small  things,  she 
knew  that  the  rill  makes  the  river,  the  minutest  or 
ganic  cells  develop  either  into  human  beings  or  mon 
sters,  and  that  mere  atoms  of  dust  form  the  everlast 
ing  hills.  She  therefore  wisely  felt  that  she  best 
guided  and  controlled  the  state  by  marking,  guard 
ing,  and  stimulating  every  discernible  quality  in  her 
child  that  ennobles  manhood  and  qualifies  citizenship. 
There  is  nothing  in  all  the  mad,  rushing  innovations 
of  the  seething  day  in  which  we  live  so  at  war  with 
the  life  of  our  fathers  and  mothers  as  the  increasing 
clamor  to  take  out  of  the  home  our  dear  women  and 
clothe  them  with  the  habiliments  and  office  of  men. 
It  strikes  with  gleaming  dagger  at  the  very  heart  of 
our  social  life  and  happiness.  It  shatters  the  vase  in 
which  are  stored  the  richest  domestic  jewels.  It  puts 
out  the  vestal  fires  on  the  hearthstone;  pulls  down 
the  swinging  censer  which  scatters  its  sweet  per 
fumes  through  our  homes.  It  plows  up  the  flower 
gardens,  and  sows  them  with  rankest  weeds.  It 
gives  us  pebbles  for  rubies  and  poppies  for  diamonds. 
It  gives  us  social  Bacchantes  and  literary  Medusas. 

Instead  of  the  splendid  girl,  such  as  I  have  seen 
on  many  a  Missouri  farm,  who  could  milk  a  cow  and 
play  on  the  piano,  ride  a  wild  colt,  and  "love  harder 
than  a  mule  can  kick,"  with  the  very  freshness  of 
the  mountain  on  her  cheeks,  and  scattering  the  val 
ley's  bounty  from  her  hands, — "known  by  the  lights 
that  herald  her  fair  presence,  the  peaceful  virtues 
that  attend  her  path,  and  the  long  blaze  of  glory  that 
lingers  in  her  train," — our  vaunted  civilization  would 
give  us  lawmakers  for  wives,  lawyers  and  doctors 
for  sweethearts.  We  have  hungry-eyed  maidens 
gazing  on  the  "amber  drooping  hair"  of  some  idiot 
like  Oscar  Wilde — longing  to  "die  of  a  rose  in  aro 
matic  pain"  because  they  are  intercepted  in  an  at- 


204  Oratory  of  the  South 

tempt  to  run  off  with  the  carriage  driver,  or  to  wed 
some  sublimated  dude  of  the  "watery  eye  and  edu 
cated  whisker,"  whose  chief  aspiration  is  to  await 
with  impatience  the  taking  off  of  "the  old  man,"  that 
he  may  squander  his  hard-earned  estate  in  cigarettes, 
perfumes,  neckties,  and  baseball. 

The  home  was  the  Old  Settler's  rendezvous  and 
sanctuary.  To  him  it  was  indeed  his  castle.  It  may 
have  been  covered  with  coon  skins,  the  rains  may 
have  descended  through  its  thatched  roof,  or  the 
winds  howled  through  its  cracks,  yet  his  social  pleas 
ures  were  mainly  around  his  own  hearthstone.  And 

"This  is  the  life,  which  those  who  fret  in  guilt 
And  guilty  cities  never  know;   the  life 
Led  by  primeval  ages,  uncorrupt, 
When  angels  dwelt,  and  God  himself,  with  man." 


THE  BANKER  AS  A  CITIZEN 

THOMAS  S.   HENDERSON 
Of  the  Cameron  (Tex.)  Bar 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Texas 
Bankers'  Association,  at  San  Antonio,  Tex.,  May  9,  1899.] 

How  splendid  the  panorama  from  which,  as  a 
background,  stands  the  proud  figure  of  the  Ameri 
can  citizen,  the  lord  of  a  continent  the  fairest  in  all 
the  earth.  In  physical  outlines  it  has  no  equal  on  the 
globe.  Behold  its  grandeur!  Locked  in  the  arms 
of  the  two  mightiest  oceans,  it  presents  an  area  in  the 
temperate  zone  greater  in  extent  and  more  beautiful 
than  any  other  country.  Salubrity  of  climate,  fertil 
ity  of  soil,  variety  and  magnitude  of  resources,  de 
clare  it  to  be  the  ideal  home  of  man.  Blessed  by  the 
noblest  government  ever  conceived  by  human  wis 
dom,  surely  its  people,  children  of  a  common  tongue, 


Thomas  S.  Henderson  205 

are  destined  to  be  the  dominant  and  masterful  race 
among  the  nations.  Aptly  described  in  the  language 
of  Jevons  as  uthat  nation  which  has  arisen  from  the 
best  stock  of  England,  has  absorbed  much  of  the  best 
blood  of  other  European  nations,  and  has  inherited 
the  richest  continent  in.  the  world,  must  have  an  im 
portance  in  coming  times  of  which  even  Americans 
are  barely  conscious."  Resources  so  vast,  possibilities 
so  unlimited,  impose  the  highest  responsibilities  and 
invoke  the  best  efforts  of  every  American  citizen. 

But  I  hear  you  ask  if  the  obligations  of  citizenship 
do  not  rest  equally  upon  all,  and  by  what  authority  I 
lay  down  for  the  banker  a  different  rule  of  duty  from 
that  laid  down  for  the  ordinary  citizen?  Theoret 
ically  you  are  entitled  to  the  answers  suggested  by 
these  questions.  But  when  we  leave  the  abstract  and 
proceed  to  a  brief  inquiry  into  the  actual  conditions 
of  citizenship,  we  discover  that  while  it  is  true  that 
with  us  the  people  themselves  are  the  only  master 
and  that  public  opinion  expressed  in  the  will  of  the 
majority  is  the  power  that  governs,  yet  we  must  not 
forget  that  in  its  final  analysis  this  will  of  the  people 
is  no  more  than  the  concurrent  expression  of  the  indi 
vidual  opinions  of  those  who  compose  the  mass.  The 
individual  himself  is  the  sovereign  factor,  and  hence 
the  effort  of  every  movement  is  to  influence  and  di 
rect  a  majority  of  the  individuals  who  are  the  people. 
The  power  to  do  this  is  called  leadership,  and  thus 
under  this  law  of  leadership  the  will  of  the  many  is 
not,  after  all,  the  will  of  the  many,  but  is  rather  the 
will  of  those  few  who  by  virtue  of  superior  capacity 
and  power  are  able  to  secure  the  sanction  of  the  ma 
jority.  And  those  who  are  able  to  do  this  are  called 
leaders.  And,  however  much  the  fact  may  be  dis 
guised,  as  in  politics  under  the  form  of  platform  de 
mands  and  convention  mandates,  the  superior  power 
.  and  influence  of  the  capable  few  to  a  great  extent 


206  Oratory  of  the  South 

create,  control,  and  direct  the  expression  of  popular 
opinion.  The  true  governing  force  is  that  power 
which  suggests,  persuades,  convinces,  and  formulates 
the  expression  of  such  opinion.  The  recognition  of 
this  principle  is  at  the  foundation  of  every  successful 
effort  to  promote  progress.  We  must  agree,  then, 
that  this  all  powerful  ruler,  the  people,  is  led  about 
by  men,  just  as  the  little  child  may  lead  the  mighty 
lion  by  a  silken  thread.  This  "gentle  captivity"  is 
the  result  of  the  confidence  and  trust  of  the  powerful 
many  in  the  wisdom  and  sincerity  of  the  capable  few. 
This  is  what  magnifies  the  office,  duty,  and  respon 
sibility  of  individual  citizenship.  And  here,  as  I  shall 
maintain,  lies  the  power  and  opportunity  of  the 
banker.  Circumstances  have  fitted  him  for  leader 
ship,  and  hence  his  higher  duty  as  a  citizen. 

When  I  address  you  as  citizens,  I  do  not  confine 
myself  to  you  merely  as  bankers,  but  I  speak  to  you 
in  your  broader  character  as  representatives  of  wealth 
and  education.  In  the  race  of  life  you  have  far  out 
stripped  the  great  mass  of  your  fellows.  It  is  not 
profitable  for  us  to  pause  now  to  consider  the  causes 
of  your  success,  for  our  present  purpose  is  only  to 
deal  with  the  fact  as  it  concerns  your  superior  equip 
ment  as  a  citizen.  The  honorable  acquisition  of 
wealth  educates  and  elevates  the  mind.  It  broadens 
a  man  and  gives  him  a  better  comprehension  of  the 
great  duties  of  life.  Wealth  and  education  make  you 
more  powerful  as  citizens  than  most  of  your  fellows 
who  possess  but  one  or  neither  of  these  equipments. 
You  are  better  able  to  comprehend  the  fact  that  the 
stage  of  action  for  the  American  citizen  has  vastly 
widened  since  the  present  generation  came  upon  it. 
The  general  duties  of  citizenship  are  more  difficult 
for  us  than  they  were  for  our  fathers,  not  that  I 
would  underrate  their  splendid  achievements,  for 
they  gave  a  ready  and  alert  response  to  every  public 


Thomas  S.  Henderson  207 

question;  but  the  unfolding  destinies  of  this  mighty 
government  bequeathed  by  them  to  their  children 
have  placed  upon  us  responsibilities  greater  and  more 
varied  than  have  ever  been  imposed  upon  any  other 
people.  The  centuries  have  not  enveloped  our  gov 
ernment  in  a  castiron  formula  held  in  position  by  his 
torical  precedents  and  hoary  traditions.  With  us 
the  will  of  the  people  is  the  throne  of  power,  and  we 
act  largely  upon  our  own  initiative;  and  hence  the 
perpetuity  of  our  institutions  is  wholly  dependent 
upon  the  virtue,  intelligence,  and  vigilant  patriotism 
of  the  individuals  composing  its  citizenship. 

While  it  is  true  we  could  not  wreck  the  good  ship 
of  state  if  we  would,  yet  this  in  no  respect  releases 
any  citizen  from  the  complete  performance  of  his 
duty.  If  the  hand  at  the  helm  fall  away  in  sleep  the 
good  vessel  may  for  a  time  have  to  be  entrusted  to 
less  skillful  hands,  and  its  entrance  into  the  harbor 
of  safety  may  be  hindered  and  delayed.  And  thus, 
alas !  the  one  sleeping  helmsman  may  hinder  the  final 
inevitable  anchorage  for  a  whole  generation,  and 
that  generation  may  be  ours.  Hence  the  imperative 
lesson  of  the  hour  is  the  responsibility  of  individ 
ual  citizenship  and  the  moral  duty  of  every  man  to 
do  his  part  according  to  his  abilities.  So  to  you,  the 
exceptional  sons  of  democracy,  qualified  for  leader 
ship  among  your  fellows,  the  appeal  comes  as  a 
command  to  instant  action.  The  Republic  has  the 
right  to  demand  the  active  presence  of  you  men  of 
wealth  and  education  whenever  and  wherever  public 
opinion  seeks  expression,  and  you  cannot  discharge 
your  obligation  as  a  citizen  by  an  ordinary  perform 
ance.  Will  you  respond  to  this  call  of  duty,  or  will 
you,  by  neglecting  the  opportunity,  give  confirmation 
to  that  widespread  distrust  of  the  patriotism  of  the 
rich? 


208  Oratory  of  the  South 

FRANK  P.  BLAIR 

CHAMP  CLARK 
Congressman  from  Missouri 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  February  4,  1899.] 

A  few  incidents  out  of  a  multitude  which  might 
be  cited  will  show  the  character  of  political  warfare 
in  Missouri  in  the  days  when  Frank  Blair  was  on 
the  boards. 

In  the  outskirts  of  Louisiana,  Missouri,  stand  four 
immense  sugar  trees,  which,  if  the  Druidical  religion 
were  in  vogue  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  would  be 
set  aside  as  objects  of  worship  by  the  Democrats. 
They  form  the  corners  of  a  rectangle  about  large 
enough  for  a  speaker's  platform.  Beneath  their 
grateful  shadow,  with  the  Father  of  Waters  behind 
him,  the  eternal  hills  in  front  of  him,  the  blue  sky 
above  his  head,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  and  curious 
concourse  of  people,  Frank  Blair  made  the  first  Dem 
ocratic  speech  delivered  in  Missouri  after  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War.  Excitement  was  intense.  Armed 
men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  abounded  on  every 
hand.  When  Blair  arose  to  speak  he  unbuckled  his 
pistol  belt  and  coolly  laid  two  navy  revolvers  on  the 
table.  He  prefaced  his  remarks  as  follows : 

uFellow  citizens,  I  understand  that  I  am  to  be 
killed  here  to-day.  I  have  just  come  out  of  four  years 
of  that  sort  of  business.  If  there  is  to  be  any  of  it 
here,  it  had  better  be  attended  to  before  the  speaking 
begins." 

That  calm  but  pregnant  exordium  has  perhaps  no 
counterpart  in  the  entire  range  of  oratory. 

"There  was  silence  deep  as  death; 
And  the  boldest  held  his  breath 
For  a  time." 


Champ  Clark  209 

He  then  proceeded  with  his  speech,  but  had  not 
been  going  more  than  five  minutes  until  a  man  of 
gigantic  proportions  started  toward  him,  shaking  his 
huge  fist  and  shouting,  "He's  an  arrant  rebel!  Take 
him  out!  Take  him  out!"  Blair  stopped,  looked 
the  man  in  the  face,  crooked  his  finger  at  him,  and 
said,  "You  come  and  take  me  out!"  which  put  an  end 
to  that  episode,  for  the  man  who  was  yelling  "Take 
him  out!"  suddenly  realized  that  Blair's  index  finger 
which  was  beckoning  him  on  would  soon  be  pressing 
the  trigger  of  one  of  those  pistols  if  he  did  go  on,  and 
he  prudently  declined  Blair's  cordial  invitation. 

Afterwards  Blair  was  advertised  to  speak  at  Mar 
shall,  in  Saline  County.  On  the  day  of  his  arrival 
an  armed  mob  was  organized  to  prevent  him  from 
speaking,  and  an  armed  body  of  Democrats  swore 
he  should.  A  collision  occurred,  resulting  in  a  regu 
lar  pitched  battle,  in  which  several  men  lost  their 
lives  and  others  were  badly  injured.  But  Blair  made 
his  speech. 

One  night  he  was  speaking  in  Lucas  Market  Place, 
in  St.  Louis,  when  a  man  in  the  crowd,  not  twenty 
feet  from  the  stand,  pointed  a  revolver  directly  at 
him.  Friendly  hands  interposed  to  turn  the  aim  sky 
ward.  "Let  him  shoot,  if  he  dares,"  said  Blair,  gaz 
ing  coolly  at  his  would-be  murderer;  "if  I  am  wrong, 
I  ought  to  be  shot,  but  this  man  is  not  the  proper  ex 
ecutioner."  The  fellow  was  hustled  from  the  audi 
ence. 

Amid  such  scenes  he  toured  the  State  from  the 
Des  Moines  River  to  the  Arkansas  line,  and  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth  of  the  raging  Kaw. 
The  man  who  did  that  had  a  lion's  heart  in  his  breast. 

Courage  is  not  synonymous  with  the  quality  of 
leadership,  though  necessary  to  it.  Indeed,  learning, 
eloquence,  courage,  talent,  and  genius  all  together 
do  not  make  a  leader.  But  whatever  the  quality  is, 

14 


210  Oratory  of  the  South 

people  recognize  it  instinctively  and  inevitably  follow 
the  man  who  possesses  it.  Frank  Blair  was  a  natural 
leader.  During  his  career  there  were  finer  scholars 
in  Missouri  than  he,  though  he  was  an  excellent 
scholar,  a  graduate  from  Princeton ;  there  were  more 
splendid  orators,  though  he  ranked  with  the  most 
convincing  and  persuasive;  there  were  profounder 
lawyers,  though  he  stood  high  at  the  bar;  there  were 
better  mixers,  though  he  was  of  cordial  and  winning 
manners;  there  were  men,  perhaps,  of  stronger  men 
tal  force,  though  he  was  amply  endowed  with  brains, 
so  good  a  judge  of  human  nature  as  Abraham  Lin 
coln  saying  of  him:  "He  has  abundant  talents"; 
there  were  men  as  brave,  though  he  was  of  the  brav 
est;  but  as  a  leader  he  overtopped  them  all. 

Believing  sincerely  that  human  slavery  was  wrong 
per  se>  and  that  it  was  of  most  evil  to  the  States  where 
it  existed,  he  fought  it  tooth  and  nail,  not  from  sym 
pathy  for  the  negroes  so  much  as  from  affection  for 
the  whites,  and  created  the  Republican  party  in  Mis 
souri  before  the  Civil  War — a  most  hazardous  per 
formance  in  that  day  and  latitude.  At  its  close,  when, 
in  his  judgment,  his  party  associates  had  become  the 
oppressors  of  the  people  and  the  enemies  of  liberty, 
he  left  them,  and  lifting  in  his  mighty  arms  the  Dem 
ocracy,  which  lay  bleeding  and  swooning  in  the  dust, 
he  breathed  into  its  nostrils  the  breath  of  life — an 
other  performance  of  extraordinary  hazard. 

This  man  was  of  the  stuff  out  of  which  martyrs 
are  made,  and  he  would  have  gone  grimly,  undaunt 
edly,  unflinchingly,  and  defiantly  to  the  block,  the 
scaffold,  or  the  stake  in  defense  of  any  cause  which 
he  considered  just.  Though  he  was  imperious,  tem 
pestuous,  dogmatic,  and  impetuous,  though  no  danger 
could  swerve  him  from  the  path  of  duty,  though  he 
gave  tremendous  blows  to  his  antagonists  and  re 
ceived  many  of  the  same  kind,  he  had  infinite  com- 


Robert  Minor  Wallace  211 

passion  for  the  helpless  and  the  weak,  and  to  the  end 
his   heart  remained  tender  as   a   little   child's. 

While  from  the  day  of  his  return  from  the  Mexi 
can  War  to  the  hour  of  his  retirement  from  the  Sen 
ate  he  was  in  the  forefront  of  every  political  battle 
in  Missouri — and  nowhere  on  earth  were  political 
wars  waged  with  more  ungovernable  fury — such 
were  his  endearing  qualities  that  the  closing  years 
of  his  life  were  placid  as  a  summer's  evening,  and  he 
died  amid  the  lamentations  of  a  mighty  people.  Re 
publicans  seemed  to  remember  only  the  good  he  had 
done  them,  forgetting  the  injuries,  while  the  Demo 
crats  forgot  the  injuries  he  had  inflicted  upon  them 
and  remembered  only  the  invaluable  service  he  had 
rendered.  Union  veterans  named  a  Grand  Army 
post  for  him;  Confederates  proudly  call  their  boys 
Frank  Blair,  and  his  fellow-citizens,  without  regard 
to  creed  or  party,  erected  his  statue  of  heroic  size  in 
Forest  Park  to  perpetuate  his  fame  to  coming  gen 
erations. 


STEPHEN  F.  AUSTIN  AND  SAM  HOUSTON 

ROBERT  MINOR  WALLACE 
Congressman  from  Arkansas 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  on  the  occasion  of  the  acceptance  of  statues  of 
Austin  and  Houston  from  the  State  of  Texas.] 

Mr.  Speaker,  we  to-day  formally  accept  from  the 
State  of  Texas  the  statues  of  Stephen  F.  Austin  and 
Sam  Houston,  epoch-makers  in  the  history  of  the 
country. 

On  his  departure  from  Tennessee,  under  the 
shadow  of  a  great  sorrow,  Sam  Houston  dwelled  with 
the  Indians  for  a  season  in  Arkansas  Territory. 


212  Oratory  of  the  South 

Moses  Austin  traversed  the  same  with  chain  and 
compass,  Stephen,  his  son,  following  in  his  footsteps 
and  sharing  his  hardships.  Of  Houston  it  is  said  he 
uwas  the  most  imposing  in  personal  appearance  of 
all  Texans.  His  eagle  eye  read  men  at  a  glance.  His 
majestic  personality  enabled  him  to  control  the  ex 
cited  masses  at  critical  periods  when  no  other  man 
could.  His  penetrating  vision  grasped  the  whole  of 
Texas — her  resources  and  capabilities  of  the  present 
and  future — a  grasp  that  was  only  relaxed  by  death." 
And  of  Austin,  "that  he  had  more  culture  and  pos 
sessed  a  more  refined  and  loftier  spiritual  image." 

Wars  and  treaties  and  history  I  shall  leave  largely 
to  the  historian  and  those  inclined  to  thread  the  nar 
rative  here.  Upon  the  brow  of  Houston,  with  his 
stern  virtues  and  diversified  occupations,  I  shall  at 
tempt  to  wreathe  the  laurel  leaf.  In  private  life  he 
was  gentle,  chivalric,  and  courtly.  In  Texas  he  wore 
buckskin  breeches  and  a  Mexican  blanket,  which 
tempted  General  Jackson  to  remark:  "There  is  one 
man  at  least  in  Texas  of  whom  God  Almighty,  and 
not  the  tailor,  had  the  making."  With  personal 
courage  that  never  failed  him,  with  humanity  that 
never  sought  innocent  blood,  with  honor  unsullied 
by  successes  or  reverses,  he  began  and  ended  his  life 
a  benefactor  of  his  race. 

He  was  not  unlike  the  later  Jackson.  Mysterious, 
incomprehensibe  to  his  foes,  he  won  advantage  at  a 
move,  victory  at  a  blow.  Sword  and  prayer  were  his 
weapons,  and  he  mingled  them  with  the  lurid  light 
nings  that  played  upon  the  battle  cloud  and  thun 
dered  in  the  storm  of  war.  Those  who  may  have  fol 
lowed  closely  his  career — first  living  in  peace  with, 
then  battling  against  and  again  dwelling  in  exile  with, 
the  redman — must  look  with  wonder  on  this  strange, 
unfathomable  character,  romantic  as  it  was  daring, 


Robert  Minor  Wallace  213 

weird  as  it  was  bold,  admirable  as  it  was  unconquer 
able! 

Well  may  history  rest  his  fame  at  San  Jacinto. 
There  culminated  the  struggle  which  divested  Texas 
of  a  hostile  foe,  detained  Santa  Anna  as  a  hostage 
for  peace  and  independence,  builded  a  republic  and 
immortalized  its  builder.     The  more  remote  but  not 
less  important  sequence  was  the  annexation  of  Texas 
to   the   American   Union.     The    Stars    and   Stripes 
floated  over  the  halls  of  the  Montezumas  and  the 
domain  of  our  Republic  was  augmented  by  conces 
sions  of  territory  stretching  away  to  the  Rio  Grande 
and  Pacific ;  and  Mexico,  then  a  mockery  of  civil  gov 
ernment,  was  constructed  into  a  modern  republic,  wel 
comed  to  the  family  of  nations,  and  honored  by  the 
powers  of  the  earth.     A  blue  shaft,  rising  in  broad 
stretches  of  magnificent  environment  at  San  Jacinto, 
and  speaking  through  its  granite  silence  the  people's 
love  for  their  patriot  son,  may  lose  its  majesty  and 
its  strength,  but  the  name  wrought  deep  in  its  pol 
ished  shaft,  but  deeper  wrought  in  the  hearts  and 
consciences  of  men,   shall  endure  until  God's  hand 
shall  rend  the  firmament  and  God's  voice  shall  rock 
the  earth,   and  in  the  tumult  of  dissolving  nature 
time's  last  revolution  "breaks  on  eternity's  wave." 
Austin's  idea,  which  prevailed  for  a  time,  was  to 
establish  a  local  State  government  under  the  Mexi 
can  constitution  of  1824.     Houston's  idea  was  to  es 
tablish  a  republic  or  a  state  absolutely  independent 
and  defiant  of  the  central  Mexican  government,  with 
the   ultimate    object    of    annexation    to    the    United 
States.     The  republic  was  established  and  modeled 
after  our  form  of  government.     Houston  was  the 
first  President.    He  found  the  young  republic  pledged 
to  the  payment  of  a  debt  of  three  million  dollars. 
His  administration  fixed  its  eyes  first  on  land  robbers. 
Then  a  small  impost  duty  was  imposed,  an  ad  val- 


214  Oratory  of  the  South 

orem  tax  levied,  and  land  scrip  issued  and  put  upon 
the  market  for  sale.  He  kept  peace  with  the  enemies 
of  the  republic,  and  started  it  well  on  the  way  to  a 
high  and  noble  destiny.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mira- 
beau  Lamar,  whose  first  official  declaration  was  that 
the  "sword  should  mark  the  boundaries  of  the  re 
public";  which  at  once  incurred  the  hostility  of  the 
Mexicans  and  Indians  alike. 

At  the  close  of  his  administration  the  public  debt 
had  increased  from  three  to  eight  millions,  and 
Texas  had  a  population  of  only  fifty-five  thousand. 
The  popular  will  cried  out  for  Houston,  and  he  again 
became  president.  He  at  once  inaugurated  adminis 
trative  reforms  to  correct  existing  abuses,  and  at  the 
end  of  his  term  in  1844  saw  his  republic  at  peace  with 
Mexico  and  the  Indian  tribes,  and  a  cash  balance 
in  her  treasury.  As  a  statesman  there  was  nothing 
of  the  inconoclast  in  his  nature.  On  the  contrary, 
he  was  of  the  type  of  creative,  constructive  publicists. 
If  Austin  laid  the  corner-stone,  Houston  erected  the 
superstructure  and  fashioned  into  splendid  propor 
tions  this  magnificent  structure  of  a  republic  and  a 
State.  He  laid  his  impress  there,  and  Texas  will  go 
down  the  years  as  the  superb  embodiment  of  his  mar 
tial  spirit,  the  composite  ideal  of  his  statesmanship, 
and  the  fairest  gem  of  his  handiwork. 

Efforts  on  the  part  of  Houston  and  others  to  an 
nex  Texas  to  the  United  States  were  thrice  denied 
by  this  country.  As  a  diplomat,  Houston  paid  court 
to  France  and  England,  and  otherwise  exerted  his 
subtle  and  powerful  influence  to  stimulate  the  jeal 
ousy  of  this  country  against  any  European  nation 
that  designed  a  foothold  in  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
Soon  James  K.  Polk  and  the  Democratic  party  es 
poused  the  cause  of  annexation,  and  triumphed  at 
the  polls.  Strange  enough,  when  the  final  steps  were 
taken  in  1845  to  annex  Texas,  Houston  seemed  to 


Kobert  Minor  Wallace  215 

oppose  or  take  no  part  in  it.  For  this  he  was  abused 
and  denounced  by  his  friends.  In  response  to  the 
matter  of  paying  court  to  France  and  England,  after 
wards  in  a  speech  he  illustrated  his  position  as  fol 
lows:  "Suppose,"  said  he,  "a  charming  lady  has 
two  suitors.  One  of  them,  she  is  inclined  to  believe, 
would  make  the  better  husband,  but  is  a  little  slow 
to  make  interesting  propositions.  Don't  you  think, 
if  she  were  a  skillful  practitioner  at  Cupid's  court, 
she  would  pretend  that  she  loved  the  other  'feller' 
the  best  and  be  sure  that  her  favorite  would  know  it? 
If  ladies  are  justified  in  making  use  of  coquetry  in  se 
curing  their  annexation  to  good  and  agreeable  hus 
bands,  you  must  excuse  me  for  making  use  of  the  same 
means  to  annex  Texas  to  the  United  States."  An 
nexation  was  the  ambition,  the  passion,  of  his  life, 
His  great  heart  beat  with  unmistakable  emotion  when 
he  looked  upon  the  "lone  star"  of  his  republic  gleam 
ing  in  the  noble  group  that  formed  the  coats  of  arms 
of  the  States  of  this  Union !  But  alas  for  the  muta 
bility  of  human  success.  The  blight  of  war  came  in 
1 86 1,  and  hearing  the  signal  guns  proclaim  the  with 
drawal  of  Texas  from  the  Union  he  exclaimed:  "My 
heart  is  broken!"  and  those  who  knew  him  best  re 
cord  that  Houston  was  never  himself  again. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  seen  part  of  a  summer's  sky 
overcast  with  cloud  and  the  gentle  showers  fall  and 
the  raindrops  sparkle  as  so  many  diamonds  on  tree 
and  shrub  and  flower,  and  I  believed  it  beautiful. 
I  have  fancied  myriad  forms  in  the  strange  phe 
nomena  of  the  heavens,  and  believed  it  grand.  I 
have  looked  on  the  mellow  glow  of  sunset  and  be 
lieved  it  challenged  the  utmost  stretch  of  my  fancy 
for  the  beautiful;  but  the  most  charming  picture, 
perhaps,  that  may  challenge  the  imagination  is  a 
shaft  of  light  spanning  from  the  effigies  of  earth  to 
heaven,  and  human  souls,  loosed  from  their  mortal 


216  Oratory  of  the  South 

environment,  ascending  that  shaft  to  the  God  who 
gave  them. 

Let  this  be  the  vision  we  have  of  the  great  souls, 
now,  perhaps,  not  less  the  idols  of  their  eternal  than 
erstwhile  of  their  earthly  homes.  Let  it  be  they  abide 
in  peace  by  the  fountain  of  living  waters  and  where 
the  skies  bend  softest  and  the  flowers  bloom  eternal. 
Noble  and  cultured  Austin!  Great  and  picturesque 
Houston !  By  the  work  of  this  day  we  but  recall  the 
magic  of  thy  genius,  but  review  the  pioneer  pageant 
of  thy  march  from  cradle  to  grave.  It  has  not  been 
left  for  us  to  add  one  cubit  to  statures  like  gods,  that 
descended  and  stood  in  the  councils,  moved  the 
hearts,  and  molded  the  judgments  of  men.  It  has  not 
been  left  for  us  to  immortalize  thy  names,  for  beyond 
our  feeble  reach  they  are  engraved  on  the  tablets  and 
shrined  in  the  hearts  of  nations.  It  has  not  been  left 
for  us  to  wreathe  thy  brows  with  lintels  that  defy 
the  touch  of  time,  for  the  world  has  crowned  them 
with  laurels  that  shall  endure  forever.  It  has  not 
been  left  for  us  to  broaden  'the  pedestals  nor  place 
the  capstones  on  the  pyramids  of  thy  fame,  for  thy 
own  hands  have  builded  the  one  as  broad  as  earth  and 
the  other  as  high  as  heaven.  But  it  has  been  left  for 
us  to  glory  in  the  fact  of  birth  in  a  land  dowered  with 
the  knightly  genius  of  thy  patriotism  and  the  peerless 
chivalry  of  thy  deeds.  Caesar  nor  Napoleon  inspired 
not  his  armed  legions  with  such  spirit  for  war  as  thou 
hast  wrought  in  thy  countrymen  for  peace,  nor  waged 
such  victories  in  battle  as  thou  hast  won  in  the  forum, 
nor  massed  such  power  for  oppression  as  thou  hast 
arrayed  for  freedom,  nor  transmitted  such  glory  to 
the  nations  as  thy  example  to  posterity ! 


Robert  L.  Henry  217 

TEXAS  AND  THE  PANAMA  CANAL 

ROBERT  L.    HENRY 
Congressman  from  Texas 

[The  conclusion  of  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the 
Houston  business  men,  Houston,  Tex.,  November  I,  1901.] 

With   reference   to   the   Panama    Canal,   here   is 
Texas  in  a  most  happy  geographical  position.     With 
her  264,811  square  miles  of  territory,  more  beauti 
ful  than  the  poetic  vale  of  Cashmere,  nestling  against 
the  throbbing  bosom  of  the  queenly  Mexican  Sea, 
with  her  four  million  bales  of  cotton,  her  five  million 
cattle,  three  million  horses,  and  three  million  sheep 
browsing   upon   and  beautifying   every   hilltop   and 
vale,  she  stands  proudly  in  the  parliament  of  States 
without  a   rival.      Her   great  grain   fields   are   the 
wonder  of  the  universe.     Her  luscious  fruits,  many 
colored  and  richly  laden  minerals,  and  her  marvel 
ous  yellow  pines  are  of  deep  concern  to  the  whole 
world.     With  all  this  prospect,  we  have  room  for 
millions  of  people  yet  to  come.     Our  area  is  so  vast 
that  we  could  seat  every  person  of  this  habitable 
globe  in  Texas  in  a  comfortable  chair,  and  give  each 
one  four  feet  for  elbow  room!     Texas   has   been 
blessed  with  beneficent  land  policies  beyond  any  other 
State.     Truly  our  land  laws  and  homestead  exemp 
tions  "have  put  the  crown  of  industrial  glory  on  her 
head  and  the  rock  of  conscious  independence  beneath 
her  feet." 

When  this  canal  is  created  the  entrepots  of  trade 
along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  will  be  the  most 
marvelously  busy  ones  this  old  world  ever  saw.  Turn 
to  the  south  and  behold  the  rich  deposits  of  iron,  coal, 
minerals,  and  the  gigantic  forests  of  varied  timbers 
the  States  of  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  Texas, 
and  other  States  contain  for  the  Oriental  world.  Cast 


218  Oratory  of  the  South 

your  eye  northwestward  into  many  States  and  let  it 
rest  upon  the  rich  harvests  of  golden  grain,  ripened 
into  a  glorious  fruitage,  that  must  come  down  this 
way  to  reach  the  millions  of  other  countries. 

Look  around  you  in  the  sun-kissed  South  and  be 
hold  the  illimitable  fields  of  cotton,  bursting  into  seas 
of  snowflakes,  that  must  clothe  the  world.  Feast 
your  eyes  upon  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Mississippi, 
Red  River,  the  wonderful  Brazos  lowlands  and  va 
rious  other  streams  of  Texas,  and  contemplate,  if  you 
can,  the  rich  cargoes  that  will  come  from  their  bosoms 
to  freight  the  heavy  laden  ships  as  they  pass 
along  this  Isthmian  Way.  Foreseeing  the  completion 
of  this  canal,  standing  here  to-night,  we  can  see  this 
proud  city  with  a  hundred  thousand  souls  for  her  in 
habitants.  We  can  look  up  the  Brazos  River,  with 
her  navigation  assured,  and  see  two  million  bales  of 
cotton  passing  through  your  midst  on  their  voyage 
to  outside  nations.  Two  millions  more  will  hurry 
down  the  great  railway  systems  converging  here  on 
their  flight  to  the  needs  of  other  people.  Cotton 
mills  and  factories  and  varied  industries  will  rear 
their  heads  all  over  Texas  and  send  their  products 
humming  this  way.  Untold  millions  of  tons  of 
freight  will  concentrate  here  to  begin  their  glad  voy 
ages  far  and  away.  Many  million  gallons  of  oil,  as 
they  are  shot  heavenward  by  wild  nature  at  Beau 
mont,  will  be  captured  and  hurried  from  this  very 
midst  to  the  four  winds  of  the  earth,  proclaiming 
that  Texas  has  solved  the  fuel  problem  for  all  people 
and  all  climes.  The  markets  of  the  world  will  de 
mand  every  gallon  of  oil  produced  by  Texas,  and 
mayhap  many  millions  more  will  be  needed. 

Verily,  do  these  things  give  Texas  a  marvelously 
grand  commercial  and  industrial  aspect.  Away  with 
the  narrow  limits  of  a  pent  up  Utica !  Down  with 
the  restrictive  tariff  and  Chinese  walls  of  protection ! 


Charles  A.  Culberson  219 

Let  us  out  to  the  seas  and  grasp  hands  in  free  busi 
ness  intercourse  with  the  millions  of  people  every 
where!  Let  us  swing  wide  an  "open  door"  to  the 
world  at  large  and  demand  an  "open  door"  in  re 
turn!  Then,  with  this  waterway  established,  future 
years  may  bring  the  rich  plains  of  Canada  into  this 
Union  of  States.  Our  strong  arms  may  some  time 
peaceably  encircle  Mexico  and  Central  America  and 
erect  them  into  self-governing  States  of  this  Union. 
With  this  consummation  let  us  fling  away  the  islands 
of  the  seas  and  maverick  herds  of  people  there,  aliens 
to  our  institutions  and  corroding  to  our  body  politic. 
Then,  with  the  greatest  republic  ever  possible  in  ages 
past  and  future,  resting  securely  between  the  two 
mighty  oceans  beating  against  her,  America  will  en 
dure  as  the  protector  of  freedom,  human  progress, 
and  constitutional  government  uas  long  as  the  stars 
twinkle  through  the  loops  of  time." 


TRIBUTE    TO    IRELAND 

CHARLES  A.  CULBERSON 

United  States  Senator  from  Texas 

[Address  on  St.  Patrick's  Day  at  Houston,  Tex.,  March 
17,  1898.] 

This  meeting  is  the  culmination  of  the  greatest 
Irish  celebration  this  State  has  known,  and  the  most 
remarkable  assemblage  of  that  people  ever  held 
within  her  borders;  and  when  we  look  back  upon 
the  salient  features  of  the  history  of  Ireland  we  need 
not  be  surprised  at  this  outpouring  of  her  sons  and 
sympathizers  and  this  increasing  interest  in  their 
affairs. 

From  the  beginning  of  her  authentic  annals, 
though  without  monuments  and  trophies  to  elevate 


220  Oratory  of  the  South 

and  inspire,  and  weighted  throughout  the  ages  with 
English  oppression,  the  nobler  aspirations  of  her 
people  have  been  enlightenment  and  liberty.  The 
earlier  ages  gave  promise  of  these,  and  that  the  beau 
tiful  island,  rich  in  valley  and  river  and  mountain, 
would  endure  as  an  independent  and  mighty  nation. 
For  three  hundred  years  after  the  adoption  of  Chris 
tianity,  from  the  fifth  to  the  eighth  century,  it  at 
tracted  students  from  Britain  and  Gaul,  sent  mission 
aries  into  the  country  now  known  as  Western  Europe, 
and  became  the  nursery  of  science  and  civilization. 
No  national  or  racial  causes  arrested  this  progress 
and  destroyed  this  supremacy,  but  invaded  by  the 
Northmen,  and,  because  of  internal  division  and  dis 
sension,  finally  overrun  by  the  English,  the  contest 
for  more  than  seven  hundred  years  has  been  not  so 
much  for  intellectual  and  industrial  advancement  as 
for  individual  liberty  and  national  independence. 
During  this  conflict,  at  which  mankind  has  marveled, 
Celtic  contributions  to  civilization  have  indeed  been 
memorable,  but  no  people,  however  great,  ever  rose 
to  their  full  stature  amid  the  environments  and  ex 
actions  of  tyranny. 

Above  all  else  they  have  done  for  the  world,  this 
struggle  of  Irishmen  for  freedom  is  the  most  benefi 
cent  and  imperishable.  Other  peoples  have  fought 
nobly,  other  nations  have  written  their  deeds  in  death 
less  song  and  story,  but  it  was  reserved  for  the  Irish 
to  wage,  for  more  than  seven  centuries,  an  unended 
battle  for  self-government,  which  is  alike  their  afflic 
tion  and  their  glory.  So  unyielding,  so  constant,  so 
heroic,  have  they  been  that  the  prophecy  of  the  oracle 
should  be  fulfilled :  "They  may  be  in  want,  they  may 
be  in  rags,  they  may  be  naked,  but  not  a  link  of  the 
British  chain  will  be  left  clanking  to  their  limbs." 
Fighting  in  tears  and  under  the  despot  heel,  the  issue 
of  the  combat  may  be  against  them,  yet  amid  the  ruins 


Joseph  W.  Bailey  221 

they  can  proudly  recall  the  past  and  contemplate  its 
grandeur.  What  nation  can  boast  a  sweeter  bard 
than  Moore,  or  a  greater  revolutionary  orator  than 
O'Connell?  What  people  can  point  to  a  more  daunt 
less  warrior  than  Brian  Boru,  a  more  masterful  states 
man  than  Parnell,  or  a  nobler  martyr  than  Emmet? 
What  race  can  claim  a  loftier  emblem  than  the  sham 
rock,  a  grander  cause  than  home  rule,  or  a  more 
devout  apostle  than  St.  Patrick? 

Of  Irish  birth  and  extraction,  affectionately  at 
tached  to  her  traditions,  proud  of  her  immortal 
achievements,  and  yearning  for  her  sovereignty  and 
upbuilding,  let  us  not  despair  of  the  future  of  Ire 
land.  Let  us  rather  feel  with  her  sweetest  poet 
that 

"The  star  of  the  field,  which  so  often  hath  pour'd 

Its  beams  on  the  battle,  is  set  ; 
But  enough  of  its  glory  remains  on  each  sword 
To  light  us  to  victory  yet." 


THE    DIVISION    OF   TEXAS 

JOSEPH  W.  BAILEY 
United  States  Senator  from  Texas 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  January,  1906.] 

Throughout  this  discussion  we  have  heard  many 
and  varied  comments  upon  the  magnitude  of  Texas. 
Some  Senators  have  expressed  a  friendly  solicitude 
that  we  would  some  day  avail  ourselves  of  the  privi 
lege  accorded  to  us  by  the  resolutions  under  which  we 
entered  the  Union  and  divide  our  State  into  five. 
Other  Senators  have  seemed  to  think  it  a  just  ground 
of  complaint  that  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  oppose 
the  consolidation  of  the  two  Territories  into  one 


222  Oratory  of  the  South 

State,  without  advocating  a  division  for  Texas.  The 
same  reasons  that  will  satisfy  my  solicitous  friends 
that  their  hope  for  the  division  of  Texas  can  never 
be  realized  will  also  relieve  me  of  a  charge  of  incon 
sistency  which  has  more  than  once  been  insinuated 
against  me  in  the  course  of  this  debate. 

Mr.  President,  if  Texas  had  contained  a  popula 
tion  in  1845  sufficient  to  have  justified  her  admission 
as  five  States,  it  is  my  opinion  that  she  would  have 
been  so  admitted  then,  because  the  all-absorbing  slav 
ery  question,  which  happily  no  longer  vexes  us,  but 
which  completely  dominated  American  politics  at  that 
time,  would  have  led  to  that  result.  I  will  even  go 
further  than  that ;  I  will  say  that  if  Texas  were  now 
five  States  there  would  not  be  five  men  in  either  State 
who  would  seriously  propose  the  consolidation  into 
one.  But,  sir,  Texas  is  not  divided  now,  and  under 
the  providence  of  God  she  will  not  be  divided  until 
the  end  of  time.  Her  position  is  exceptional,  and 
excites  in  the  minds  of  all  her  citizens  a  just  and 
natural  pride.  She  is  now  the  greatest  of  all  the 
States  in  area,  and  certain  to  become  the  greatest  of 
all  in  population,  wealth  and  influence;  with  such  a 
primacy  assured  her  she  could  not  be  expected  to  sur 
render  it,  even  to  obtain  increased  representation  in 
this  body. 

But,  Mr.  President,  while  from  her  proud  emi 
nence  to-day  she  looks  upon  a  future  as  bright  with 
promise  as  ever  beckoned  a  people  to  follow  where 
fate  and  fortune  lead,  it  is  not  so  much  the  promise  of 
the  future  as  it  is  the  memory  of  the  glorious  past 
which  appeals  to  her  against  division.  She  could 
partition  her  fertile  valleys  and  broad  prairies,  she 
could  apportion  her  thriving  towns  and  growing 
cities,  she  could  distribute  her  splendid  population 
and  wonderful  resources,  but  she  could  not  divide 
the  fadeless  glory  of  those  days  that  are  past  and 


Joseph  W.  Bailey  223 

gone.  To  which  of  her  daughters,  sir,  could  she  as 
sign,  without  irreparable  injustice  to  all  the  others, 
the  priceless  inheritance  of  the  Alamo,  Goliad,  and 
San  Jacinto  ?  To  which  could  she  bequeath  the  name 
of  Houston,  Austin,  Fannin,  Bowie,  and  Crockett? 
Sir,  the  fame  of  these  men,  and  their  less  illustrious 
but  not  less  worthy  comrades,  cannot  be  severed. 
Their  names  are  written  upon  the  tablets  of  her 
grateful  memory,  so  that  all  time  shall  not  efface 
them.  The  story  of  their  mighty  deeds,  which  res 
cued  Texas  from  a  condition  of  a  despised  and  op 
pressed  Mexican  province  and  made  her  a  free  and 
independent  republic,  still  rouses  the  blood  of  her 
men  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  we  would  not 
forfeit  the  right  to  repeat  it  to  our  children  for 
many  additional  seats  in  this  august  assembly. 

The  world  has  never  seen  a  sublimer  courage  or  a 
more  unselfish  patriotism  than  that  which  illuminates 
almost  every  page  in  the  early  history  of  Texas. 
Students  may  know  more  about  other  battlefields,  but 
none  is  consecrated  with  the  blood  of  braver  men 
than  those  who  fell  at  Goliad.  Historians  may  not 
record  it  as  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world, 
but  the  victory  of  the  Texans  at  San  Jacinto  is  des 
tined  to  exert  a  greater  influence  upon  the  happiness 
of  the  human  race  than  all  the  conflicts  that  estab 
lished  or  subverted  the  petty  kingdoms  of  the  ancient 
world.  Poets  have  not  yet  immortalized  it  with  their 
enduring  verse,  but  the  Alamo  is  more  resplendent 
with  her  heroic  sacrifice  than  was  Thermopylae  itself, 
because  while  "Thermopylae  had  its  messenger  of 
defeat,  the  Alamo  had  none." 

Mr.  President,  if  I  might  be  permitted  to  borrow 
an  apostrophe  to  liberty  and  union,  pronounced  by  a 
distinguished  Senator,  I  would  say  of  Texas:  "She 
is  one  and  inseparable,  now  and  forever." 


224  Oratory  of  the  South 

LOUISIANA 

THOMAS  J.    KERNAN 
Of  the  New  Orleans  (La.)  Bar 

[Response  to  the  toast,  "The  State  of  Louisiana,"  delivered 
at  the  reception  given  the  officers  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana, 
at  New  Orleans,  January,  1907.] 

Louisiana !  The  soft,  liquid  music  of  that  sweet 
name  "steals  o'er  my  spirit  like  a  May  day  break 
ing"  and  throws  around  my  soul  a  magic  spell  of  love 
and  loyalty  that  blends  in  one  the  love  of  mother, 
wife,  and  children.  I  count  myself  thrice  happy  that 
my  first  breath  was  drawn  from  Louisiana's  balmy 
air,  and  thrice  blessed  that  my  head  shall  find  at  last 
its  final  resting-place  upon  her  tender  bosom.  She 
was  of  foreign  birth,  and  the  mingled  strains  of 
France  and  Spain  still  course  through  her  children's 
veins.  So  strong  has  been  the  impress  of  this  alien 
parentage  upon  her  laws,  her  customs,  and  her  people 
that  we  are  sometimes  jocularly  told  that  it  is  time 
Lousiana  should  cease  to  be  a  province  of  France  and 
apply  for  admission  into  the  union  of  American 
States. 

We  admit  that  Louisiana  was  the  Republic's  first 
foreign  possession,  but  we  claim  for  her  now  the 
place  of  a  favorite  daughter  in  Columbia's  innermost 
family  circle.  If  there  was  ever  doubt  of  this,  it  has 
been  dispelled  by  her  selection  as  the  name  of 
the  queen  of  the  American  navy  that  so  grandly  bears 
the  proud  name  of  Louisiana  in  these  waters  to-day. 

To  me  there  is  no  more  entrancing  chapter  in  the 
history  of  the  world  than  that  which  records  the 
titanic  struggle  between  France  and  England  for  the 
mastery  of  this  vast  continent.  It  began  almost  with 
its  first  discovery,  and  ended  only  when  Napoleon 
sold  and  Jefferson  bought  what  France  could  no 


Thomas  J.  Kernan  225 

longer  hold  and  our  Republic  could  no  longer  do 
without.  Both  peoples  had  bravely  dared  the  blank 
mystery  of  Atlantic  waters  and  had  gallantly  tempted 
the  fascinating  and  alluring  dangers  of  the  lonely 
and  enchanted  forest.  Both  dreamt  of  wealth  untold 
and  of  empire  unbounded;  and  in  their  efforts  to 
realize  these  dreams  there  was  unfolded  here  a  hu 
man  drama  of  heroism  and  romance  unmatched  in 
history  or  in  fiction. 

How  absorbingly  interesting  it  is  to  watch  that 
straggling  and  struggling  line  of  hardy  English  pio 
neers  that  clung  so  long  and  so  tenaciously  to  the  bar 
ren  and  storm-swept  shore  of  the  Atlantic;  and  after 
wards  poured  over  the  blue  mountains  of  the  Appa 
lachian  range  to  hew  an  empire  out  of  the  forest  and 
to  fill  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi  with  teem 
ing  life  and  stirring  action ! 

How  equally  interesting  it  is  to  observe  that  other 
thin  line,  manned  by  gallant  Frenchmen,  that  but 
scantily  fringed  the  frozen  shores  of  the  St.  Law 
rence  and  the  lakes  and  planted  the  fleur-de-lis  of 
France  at  Quebec  and  Montreal ;  to  note  how  soon  so 
many  of  the  sun-loving  Latins  forsook  those  uncon 
genial  northern  climes  and  found  their  way  down  the 
sullen  Mississippi  to  the  Mediterranean  of  the  West, 
"where  blooms  perpetual  summer" !  Here  in  this 
climate,  soft  as  a  mother's  smile,  and  on  this  soil, 
fruitful  as  God's  love,  they  planted  the  French  col 
ony  from  which  has  grown  the  Louisiana  of  to-day — 
our  own,  our  native  land — the  land  of  love  and 
charm  and  beauty. 

"Thy  very  weeds  are  beautiful,  thy  waste 
More  rich  than  other  climes'  fertility." 

Despite  Louisiana's  foreign  origin  and  her  alien 
laws,  we,  her  people,  are  not  aliens,  and  yield  to 
none  in  patriotism  or  in  loyalty  to  our  common  coun- 

15 


226  Oratory  of  the  South 

try.  Although  we  may  have  had  other  flags  in  the 
past,  Old  Glory  is  our  only  flag  to-day;  and  we  be 
hold  in  those  silken  folds  and  streaming  splendor  the 
blended  glories  of  all  the  flags  of  all  our  great  and 
gallant  ancestors — the  Royal  George  of  England, 
the  flower  flag  of  France,  the  glittering  green  of  Ire 
land,  the  orange  and  red  of  Spain,  and,  last  and  dear 
est,  the  Conquered  Banner.  Old  Glory  now  stands 
for  them  all,  and  to  its  defense  we  of  Louisiana  do 
here,  now  and  forever,  pledge  our  lives,  our  fortunes, 
and  our  sacred  honor. 

Louisiana  to-day  again  gladly  welcomes  and 
proudly  honors  her  namesake,  Louisiana.  In  her 
brave  array  of  gallant  officers  and  men  she  recog 
nizes  a  devoted  band  of  true  Louisianians  into  whose 
brave  and  chivalrous  keeping  she  commits  her  sacred 
name  with  the  serene  confidence  that  they  will  keep 
it  ever  bright  and  stainless,  and  that,  when  their  gal 
lant  ship  bears  that  loved  name  seaward  down  the 
Great  River,  the  flags  and  the  names  of  the  Union 
and  of  Louisiana  will  ever  have  increase  of  fame  and 
honor  on  all  the  seas  she  sails. 


THE    CITY   OF   SHREVEPORT 

EDWARD  H.  RANDOLPH 
Of  the  Shreveport  (La.)  Bar 

[An  address  delivered  upon  the  occasion  of  laying  the 
corner-stone  of  the  new  City  Hall  of  Shreveport,  January 
2,  1908.] 

Fellow-citizens  of  Shreveport: 

In  the  olden  times  all  days  of  pleasure,  all  lucky 
days,  were  marked  on  the  calendar  with  a  white 
stone.  To-day  we  mark  as  a  lucky  one  in  the  calen 
dar  of  Shreveport,  because  we  place  in  position  the 


Edward  H.  Randolph  227 

white  stone  which  is  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  city 
hall.  Henceforth  let  it  be  considered  a  lucky  day, 
a  day  of  pleasure,  and  of  good  omen.  At  the  same 
time,  as  we  are  erecting  this  edifice  for  the  service  of 
the  people  and  dedicate  it  to  the  uses  of  the  city  gov 
ernment,  let  us  as  citizens  dedicate  ourselves  to  the 
service  of  our  city  in  all  things  that  go  to  make 
up  good  citizenship  and  patriotic  pride  in  Shreveport, 
so  that,  as  the  citizens  of  Rome  proudly  said,  "Ro- 
manus  sum,"  we  can  say  with  pride,  "Shreveport  is 


some." 


On  this  occasion  we  should  also  keep  in  memory 
our  forefathers  who  established  the  city  in  this 
place — beautiful  for  situation,  at  the  confluence  of 
Cross  Bayou  and  Red  River,  high  upon  the  hills,  se 
cure  against  the  ravages  of  the  waters,  with  ideal 
conditions  for  natural  drainage  and  health,  across 
the  streams  the  teeming  lowlands  rich  as  the  shores 
of  Egypt's  Nile,  and  to  the  south  and  east  of  us  the 
undulating,  salubrious  uplands.  The  early  founders, 
mooring  their  boats  to  these  bold  uplands,  then  the 
Ultima  Thule  of  navigation,  were  guided  by  a  div 
ination  that  here  was  the  place  to  found  a  city.  It 
is  not  a  vain  piece  of  boasting  for  us  to  say  that  the 
spirit  of  these  original  founders  has  been  with  us, 
and  is  still  with  us,  to  make  the  city  worthy  of  its 
noble  natural  advantages.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten, 
though,  that  the  growth  and  development  and  pro 
gress  of  the  city  has  been  from  the  beginning  attended 
with  constant  toil  and  effort.  The  first  navigators 
who  dropped  their  anchors  here  were  not  lotus- 
eaters  seeking  ease  and  rest,  but  they  and  their  de 
scendants  have  been  men  of  restless  energy  and  brave 
hearts  undaunted  by  reverses  or  failure. 

And  be  it  remembered  that  Shreveport  has  had 
many  vicissitudes  and  depressions.  She  has  been 
through  wars  and  pestilence,  failure  and  success,  pe- 


228  Oratory  of  the  South 

riods  of  buoyancy  and  periods  of  gloom,  but  she  has 
never  been  cast  down — the  nearer  she  bends  to  the 
ground  it  is  but  to  upgather  herself,  like  the  invincible 
wrestler  Antaeus,  and  with  renewed  strength  from 
her  contact  with  Mother  Earth  overthrows  all  diffi 
culties  and  marches  forward  on  her  career.  There 
fore  in  the  bright  lexicon  of  youth,  which  fame  has 
reserved  for  this  young  city,  there  is  no  such  word  as 
Fail! 

For  you  must  not  forget  that  this  is  still  a  young 
city.  Within  the  memory  of  men  still  living 
Shreveport  was  a  struggling  village  lying  like  a 
fringe  along  the  banks  of  the  river.  The  spot  where 
we  now  stand  a  small  forest  or  a  waste  place  sepa 
rating  the  town  proper  from  the  mellifluous  suburb 
of  Mugginsville,  beyond  which  stood,  outside  the 
town,  an  isolated  store  or  two  noted  for  deeds  of 
outlawry.  Within  the  same  memories  no  railroad 
entered  the  city  of  Shreveport,  and  as  the  steamboat 
rounded  the  bend  at  Fort  Humbug  (where  the  new 
Cotton  Belt  bridge  now  spans  the  river),  in  all  its 
bravery  of  grace  and  power  heading  for  the  wharf, 
meanwhile  the  strains  of  that  most  soul-stirring  mu 
sical  instrument,  the  calliope,  perched  on  top  of  the 
boat  sounding  out  its  echoes  for  miles  around,  the 
whole  population  rushed  to  the  riverside  in  welcome. 
Within  the  same  memories  there  was  no  paid  fire  de 
partment,  but  when  the  dreadful  note  of  the  fire  bell 
broke  through  the  night  everybody  in  town  rushed 
out  to  witness  and  encourage  the  gallant  and  self- 
sacrificing  efforts  of  the  volunteer  firemen.  Within 
the  same  memories  Silver  Lake  was  in  reality  water 
so  clear  that  as  you  gazed  into  it  from  the  heights 
near  Fort  Humbug  it  was  like  a  silver  mirror. 
Within  the  same  memories  most  of  the  lights  were 
oil  lamps  fastened  to  posts  at  intervals  from  one  to 
ten  blocks,  and  the  street  car  facilities  were  furnished 


Edward  H.  Randolph  229 

by  a  single  track  running  from  Spring  street  out 
Texas  street  to  the  corner  of  Jordan — the  last  car 
with  great  regularity  passing  out  at  nine  o'clock. 

In  recalling  these  incidents  it  is  almost  inconceiv 
able  that  within  so  brief  a  period  the  great  transfor 
mation  has  taken  place  that  has  made  our  city  a  great 
trade  center  where  over  forty  passenger  trains  move 
in  and  out  each  day,  not  to  mention  the  countless 
freight  cars;  that  has  established  its  warehouses, 
compresses,  stores,  factories,  banks,  workshops, 
its  miles  of  paved  streets  and  sidewalks,  typifying 
with  their  smoothness  and  strength  the  grace  and 
solidity  of  the  population;  its  means  of  quick  com 
munication,  either  bodily  or  mentally,  its  "sky 
scrapers,"  its  abundant  supply  of  water,  its  match 
less  brilliancy  of  lighting  the  night,  its  thoroughly 
organized  municipal  government,  its  public  build 
ings,  its  schoolhouses,  its  homes,  and  its  numerous 
places  of  worship. 

The  period  has  been  brief  and  our  achievement 
has  been  great  because  we  are  in  our  youth.  Do  not 
forget  that  Shreveport  is  not  yet  seventy  years  old. 
Therefore  let  us  enjoy  our  youth  and  nobly  dare  to 
do  greater  things  than  in  the  past,  but  let  us  not  for 
get  that  youth  has  its  perils  and  may  go  at  too  swift 
a  pace.  Is  it  not  true  that  the  faults  we  have  and 
the  mistakes  we  have  made  could  be  fairly  laid  to  the 
hot  blood  of  youth  and  headlong  rush  to  material 
prosperity?  If  so,  let  us  occasionally  stop  and  con 
sider  and  invite  our  souls,  remembering  that  with 
success  and  prosperity  of  a  town  comes  its  responsi 
bilities. 

We  are  literally  on  a  hill  and  our  light  can 
not  be  hid.  No  city  lives  to  itself  any  more  than 
man  can  live  to  himself.  Let  us  not  weigh  every 
thing  in  the  balance  of  trade,  because  we  know  that 
all  these  things  are  as  dust  unless  they  are  put  to 


230  Oratory  of  the  South 

noble  uses.  Not  once  or  twice  only  has  Shreveport 
in  her  history  set  the  standard  for  high  citizenship — 
let  her  continue ! 

Indeed  in  this  ceremony  to-day  there  is  the 
prophecy  of  a  greater  and  a  more  substantial  Shreve 
port.  With  the  ending  of  the  old  year  we  are  ring 
ing  out  the  old  and  ringing  in  the  new.  The  old  city 
hall  building  which  occupied  this  site,  with  its  mixed 
construction  of  brick  and  wood,  its  somewhat  flimsy 
architecture,  served  its  purpose,  and  let  us  be  grate 
ful  to  it;  but  as  this  building  of  stone  and  brick,  the 
future  home  of  the  city  government  and  the  heart  of 
our  city,  rises  in  its  strength  and  majestic  beauty 
standing  four  square  to  all  the  winds  that  blow,  as  it 
rises  high  in  its  beauty  until  it  shall  be  first  in  the  city 
to  catch  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  and  the  last  to 
redden  under  its  kiss  as  it  sinks  below  the  horizon, 
so  may  our  dear  and  much  loved  Shreveport  stand 
secure  and  strong  in  its  eminence,  not  only  for  ma 
terial  wealth,  but  for  the  character  of  its  men  and 
women. 


EULOGY    OF    CHARLES    SUMNER 

LUCIUS  Q.  C.   LAMAR 

Member  of  Congress  from  Mississippi,  1857-61,  and  from 
1873-77;  United  States  Senator,  1877-85;  appointed 
an  Associated  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1888. 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  April  28,  1874.] 

Strange  as  the  assertion  may  seem,  impossible  as 
it  would  have  been  ten  years  ago  to  make  it,  it  is  not 
the  less  true  that  to-day  Mississippi  regrets  the  death 
of  Charles  Sumner,  and  sincerely  unites  in  paying 
honor  to  his  memory.  Not  because  of  the  splendor 


Lucius  Q.  C.  Lama*  231 

of  his  intellect,  though  in  him  was  extinguished  one 
of  the  brightest  of  the  lights  which  have  illumined 
the  councils  of  the  Government  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century;  not  because  of  the  high  culture,  the  ele 
gant  scholarship,  and  the  varied  learning  which  re 
vealed  themselves  so  clearly  in  all  his  public  efforts 
as  to  justify  the  application  to  him  of  Johnson's  fe 
licitous  expression,  "He  touched  nothing  which  he 
did  not  adorn";  not  this,  though  these  are  qualities 
by  no  means,  it  is  feared,  so  common  in  public  places 
as  to  make  their  disappearance  in  a  single  instance 
a  matter  of  indifference,  but  because  of  those  pecu 
liar  and  strongly  marked  moral  traits  of  character 
which  gave  the  coloring  to  the  whole  tenor  of  his 
singularly  dramatic  public  career;  traits  which  made 
him  for  a  long  period  to  a  large  portion  of  his  coun 
trymen  the  object  of  as  deep  and  passionate  hostility 
as  to  another  he  was  one  of  enthusiastic  admiration, 
and  which  are  not  the  less  the  cause  that  now  unites 
all  these  parties,  ever  so  widely  differing,  in  a  com 
mon  sorrow  to-day  over  his  lifeless  remains. 

Charles  Sumner  was  born  with  an  instinctive  love 
of  freedom,  and  was  educated  from  his  earliest  in 
fancy  to  the  belief  that  freedom  is  the  natural  and 
indefeasible  right  of  every  intelligent  being  having 
the  outward  form  of  man.  In  him,  in  fact,  this 
creed  seems  to  have  been  more  than  a  doctrine  im 
bibed  from  teachers  or  a  result  of  education.  To 
him  it  was  a  grand  intuitive  truth,  inscribed  in  blaz 
ing  letters  upon  the  tablet  of  his  inner  consciousness, 
to  deny  which  would  have  been  for  him  to  deny  that 
he  himself  existed.  And  along  with  this  all-controll 
ing  love  of  freedom  he  possessed  a  moral  sensibility 
keenly  intense  and  vivid,  a  conscientiousness  which 
would  never  permit  him  to  swerve  the  breadth  of  a 
hair  from  what  he  pictured  to  himself  as  the  path  of 
duty.  Thus  were  combined  in  him  the  characteristics 


232  Oratory  of  the  South 

which  have  in  all  ages  given  to  religion  her  martyrs, 
and  to  patriotism  her  self-sacrificing  heroes. 

To  a  man  thoroughly  permeated  and  imbued  with 
such  a  creed,  and  animated  and  constantly  actuated 
by  such  a  spirit  of  devotion,  to  behold  a  human  being 
or  a  race  of  human  beings  restrained  of  their  natural 
right  to  liberty  for  no  crime  by  him  or  them  com 
mitted,  was  to  feel  all  the  belligerent  instincts  of  his 
nature  roused  to  combat.  The  fact  was  to  him  a 
wrong  which  no  logic  could  justify.  It  mattered  not 
how  humble  in  the  scale  of  rational  existence  the  sub 
ject  of  this  restraint  might  be,  how  dark  his  skin, 
or  how  dense  his  ignorance.  Behind  all  that  lay  for 
him  the  great  principle  that  liberty  is  the  birthright 
of  all  humanity,  and  that  every  individual  of  every 
race  who  has  a  soul  to  save  is  entitled  to  the  freedom 
which  may  enable  him  to  work  out  his  salvation. 
Formidable  as  were  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
practical  enforcement  of  his  great  principle,  he  held 
none  the  less  that  it  must  sooner  or  later  be  enforced, 
though  institutions  and  constitutions  should  have  to 
give  way  alike  before  it. 

It  was  certainly  a  gracious  act  toward  the  South — 
though  unhappily  it  jarred  upon  the  sensibilities  of 
the  other  extreme  of  the  Union,  and  estranged  from 
him  the  great  body  of  his  political  friends — to  pro 
pose  to  erase  from  the  banners  of  the  national  army 
the  mementoes  of  the  bloody  internecine  struggle 
which  might  be  regarded  as  assailing  the  pride  or 
wounding  the  sensibilities  of  the  Southern  people. 
That  proposal  will  never  be  forgotten  by  that  people 
so  long  as  the  name  of  Charles  Sumner  lives  in  the 
memory  of  man.  But,  while  it  touched  the  heart  of 
the  South  and  elicited  her  profound  gratitude,  her 
people  would  not  have  asked  of  the  North  such  an 
act  of  self-renunciation.  Conscious  that  they  them 
selves  were  animated  by  devotion  to  constitutional 


Lucius  Q.  C.  Lamar  233 

liberty,  and  that  the  brightest  pages  of  history  are 
replete  with  evidences  of  the  depth  and  sincerity  of 
that  devotion,  they  cannot  but  cherish  the  recollec 
tions  of  sacrifice  endured,  the  battles  fought,  and  the 
victories  won  in  defense  of  their  hapless  cause.  And 
respecting,  as  all  true  and  brave  men  must  respect, 
the  martial  spirit  with  which  the  men  of  the  North 
vindicated  the  integrity  of  the  Union  and  their  de 
votion  to  the  principles  of  human  freedom,  they  do 
not  ask,  they  do  not  wish,  the  North  to  strike  the 
mementoes  of  her  heroism  and  victory  from  either 
records  or  monuments  or  battle-flags.  They  would 
rather  that  both  sections  should  gather  up  the  glories 
won  by  each  section,  not  envious,  but  proud  of  each 
other,  and  regard  them  a  common  heritage  of  Ameri 
can  valor.  Let  us  hope  that  future  generations, 
when  they  remember  the  deeds  of  heroism  and  de 
votion  done  on  both  sides,  will  speak,  not  of  Northern 
prowess  and  Southern  courage,  but  of  the  heroism, 
fortitude,  and  courage  of  Americans  in  a  war  of 
ideas;  a  war  in  which  each  section  signalized  its  con 
secration  to  the  principles,  as  each  understood  them, 
of  American  liberty  and  of  the  Constitution  received 
from  their  fathers. 

Would  that  the  spirit  of  the  illustrious  man  whom 
we  lament  to-day  could  speak  from  the  grave  to 
both  parties  to  this  deplorable  conflict  in  tones  which 
should  reach  each  and  every  heart  throughout  this 
broad  territory:  "My  countrymen,  know  one  another, 
and  you  will  love  one  another  I" 


234  Oratory  of  the  South 

TRIBUTE  TO  LUCIUS  Q.  C.  LAMAR 

WARREN  A.  CANDLER 

Bishop    of    the   Methodist   Episcopal    Church,    South; 
Some  time  President  of  Emory  College,  Oxford,  Ga. 

[Extract  from  an  address  at  the  funeral  of  Justice  La- 
mar,  in  Mulberry  Street  Church,  Macon,  Ga.,  January  27, 
1893-] 

From  his  youth  up  Judge  Lamar  was  a  man  of 
courage.  He  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions 
because  he  had  convictions.  All  the  traditions  of 
his  college  life  (and  the  village  of  Oxford  is  full 
of  them)  represent  him  as  being,  from  the  first, 
an  honest  seeker  after  truth  and  a  fearless  defender 
of  it. 

Very  profound  are  the  words  of  Jesus:  "And  ye 
shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth  shall  make  you 
free."  There  is  no  freedom  worthy  of  the  name 
which  is  not  freedom  by  the  truth,  and  for  him  who 
seeks  and  finds  and  loves  and  holds  the  truth,  there 
is  neither  fear  nor  bondage  in  this  or  any  other 
world.  For  a  public  man  living  under  a  constitu 
tional  government  by  the  people,  there  can  be  no 
worse  fall  nor  dire  disaster  than  the  loss  of  faith 
in  the  feasibility  of  the  truth.  When  he  loses  this 
faith  he  instantly  becomes  the  unhappy  victim  of 
tormenting  fears  which  paralyze  his  manhood  and 
impel  him  to  the  adoption  of  all  manner  of  unworthy 
and  belittling  expedients  to  maintain  his  place  and 
power.  Then  follows  incapacity  to  recognize  the 
truth.  His  eye  is  no  longer  single.  The  light  which 
was  in  him  becomes  darkness;  and  how  great  is  that 
darkness!  Fightings  without  and  fears  within  sub 
vert  the  heroic  repose  of  lofty  character,  and  the 
devices  of  the  temporizer  displace  the  methods  of 
straightforward,  manly  independence. 

Such  was  not  Mr.  Justice  Lamar.     His  whole  life 


Warren  A.  Candler  235 

seemed  to  speak  the  sentiment  of  Emerson's  words: 
"I  look  upon  the  simple  and  childish  virtues  of 
veracity  and  honesty  as  the  root  of  all  that  is  sublime 
in  character."  This  high  faith  simplified  all  ques 
tions  which  he  was  called  to  consider,  disentangled 
all  issues  from  the  influence  of  personal  interest  and 
political  expediency,  and  left  him  free  to  determine 
the  line  of  his  action  by  great  principles  of  right,  from 
which  with  him  there  was  no  appeal.  This  faith  was 
the  basis  of  his  unfaltering  courage  in  the  discharge 
of  public  duty  He  believed  in  the  power  of  the  truth 
over  the  people,  and  with  almost  reckless  self-aban 
don  dared  to  follow  the  truth  as  it  was  given  to  him 
to  see  it.  For  this  cause  more  than  once  he  took 
positions  and  made  public  utterances  which  imperiled 
his  popularity.  When  assailed,  he  took  his  appeal 
to  the  people,  not  with  the  methods  of  a  skillful 
manager,  but  with  the  daring  of  an  honest  man  moved 
by  the  impulses  of  conscious  rectitude.  And  the 
people,  when  they  heard  him  in  defense  of  his  action, 
approved  him. 

That  he  was  ever  animated  by  the  spirit  which  I 
have  described,  none  who  knew  him  well,  none  who 
are  familiar  with  his  record,  will  question.  I  recall 
with  great  vividness  his  eloquent  commendation  of 
this  faith  to  the  young  men  of  the  country  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1890,  when  he  delivered  the  annual  address 
before  the  Alumni  Association  of  Emory  College. 
He  alluded  to  his  long  experience  in  public  life  at  the 
national  capital,  and  to  the  prevalent  opinion  that 
other  influences  than  those  of  right  and  truth  often 
times  control  there,  and  said  substantially  this: 
"After  all  is  allowed  that  can  be  justly  claimed  con 
cerning  the  influence  of  money  and  management  upon 
the  determination  of  national  affairs,  I  have  always 
observed  that  when  great  questions  call  for  solution, 
and  high  interests  are  at  stake,  manhood  and  truth 


236  Oratory  of  the  South 

and  right  outweigh  all  opposing  forces.  Devotion  to 
principle  is  not  yet  a  vain  thing  in  the  Republic ;  vir 
tue  is  not  obsolete  in  the  councils  of  the  nation." 
Such  an  utterance,  from  such  a  man,  should  rebuke 
the  unmanly  despair  to  which  so  many  are  so  strongly 
tempted,  and  should  quicken  the  courage  of  all  the 
young  men  in  our  land.  If  the  eloquent  lips  upon 
which  rests  the  seal  of  silence  to-day  could  speak 
to  us,  would  they  not  again  proclaim  this  high  and 
simple  creed  of  political  faith:  "Truth  is  better  than 
falsehood,  honesty  better  than  policy,  courage  better 
than  cowardice.  Truth  is  omnipotent  and  public 
justice  certain"? 

And  now  at  last  this  stainless  gentleman,  this  as 
tute  statesman,  this  incorruptible  judge,  this  humble 
Christian,  has  gone  to  his  long  home,  and  the 
mourners  go  about  the  streets.  Multiplied  thou 
sands  in  every  walk  of  life  and  in  every  section  of 
his  country  bless  his  name  to-day  with  tearful  bene 
dictions.  Mississippi,  the  State  of  his  adoption, 
mourns  for  him  as  her  Chevalier  Bayard,  the  idol 
of  her  heart.  Georgia,  his  native  State,  who  in  his 
long  absence  has  never  ceased  to  love  him  and  to  wish 
him  back  home,  presses  her  dead  son  to  her  bosom 
with  unutterable  sorrow,  disconsolate  as  Rachel  re 
fusing  to  be  comforted.  All  the  nation  mourns  this 
knightly  man,  who  lived  without  fear  and  died  with 
out  reproach.  Men  of  all  parties  lament  him  as  a 
patriot  whose  lofty  devotion  to  the  country  knew 
no  narrow  sectional  limits,  and  whose  loyalty  to  truth 
was  affected  by  no  partisan  bias.  All  men  mourn 
him  as  a  brave,  brotherly  soul  by  whose  life  the  sum 
of  human  goodness  was  increased,  and  by  whose 
death  the  stock  of  earthly  virtue  is  visibly  diminished. 

Thank  God  that  he  has  lived  and  labored  among 
us!  Thank  God  for  the  triumph  he  has  won,  and 
that  at  last,  when  he  could  do  no  more  for  his  country 


George  W.  Bain  237 

and  his  race,  he  was  permitted  to  come  home  to  die. 
Sweet  be  his  sleep,  in  his  sepulcher  on  the  banks  of 
the  Ocmulgee  singing  sadly  to  the  sea,  until  the  earth 
and  the  sea  shall  give  up  their  dead,  and  God  shall 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  our  eyes,  and  there  shall 
be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying  nor  any 
more  pain! 


LIFE    LESSONS 

GEORGE  W.  BAIN 
Lyceum  Lecturer,  of  Lexington,  Ky. 

[Extract  from  an  address  to  the  graduating  class  of  the 
Peirce  Business  College,  at  Philadelphia,  December  18, 
1890.] 

All  the  forces  and  elements  of  society  are  teachers, 
and  the  world  is  a  tuition.  The  birth  of  an  infant  into 
this  world  is  its  matriculation  into  a  university  where 
it  graduates  in  successive  degrees,  and  in  this  great 
school  of  life,  where  we  are  continually  influenced 
by  what  touches  us,  the  important  question  is,  How 
will  you  be  influenced  by  what  touches  you?  How 
will  you  touch  others  who  may  be  fed  by  your  full 
ness,  starved  by  your  emptiness,  uplifted  by  your 
righteousness,  or  tainted  by  your  sins  ?  While  your 
success  in  commercial  life  is  a  matter  of  great  interest 
to  you,  it  is  also  important  that  you  prove  yourselves 
to  be  Jonathans  to  your  friends,  Ruths  to  your 
kindred,  Jacobs  to  your  families,  Gideons  to  your 
country,  and  true  to  God.  You  go  out  from  here 
to-morrow  to  take  hold  of  the  throttle  valve  of  com 
merce  and  help  to  build  up  the  commercial  glory  of 
our  country,  but  what  will  you  do  to  help  build  up  its 
moral  grandeur?  For,  remember,  the  question  is 
not  whether  we  have  country  enough  to  home  the 
world,  soil  rich  enough  to  feed  the  world,  and  re- 


238  Oratory  of  the  South 

sources  enough  to  run  the  machinery  of  the  world, 
but  have  we  morals  enough  to  save  the  Republic? 
Among  the  first  of  moral  qualities  a  young  person 
needs,  is  industry.  "By  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  bread"  has  in  it  more  sweet  bread  than  all 
your  luck.  On  this  ancient  law  the  greatest  successes 
of  the  world  have  been  based.  On  this,  Abraham 
Lincoln  stood  splitting  rails,  and  wedged  himself  to 
the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  Republic;  on  this, 
Shakespeare  stood  weaving  wool,  and  wove  for  him 
self  a  fame  immortal;  on  this,  James  A.  Garfield 
tramped  a  tow-path  with  no  company  but  an  honest 
mule,  but  that  tow-path  led  on  to  the  White  House 
in  Washington.  Do  not  be  lazy.  I  saw  a  man  once 
who  really  looked  so  lazy  it  seemed  to  rest  me  to  lo.ok 
at  him.  The  man  or  woman  who  lives  in  this  age 
of  the  world  and  lives  in  idleness  should  have  been 
born  in  some  other  age.  When  ox-teams  crept  across 
the  plains  and  stage-coaches  went  five  miles  an  hour, 
idleness  may  have  been  in  some  kind  of  harmony 
with  the  age;  but  now,  when  a  man  takes  breakfast 
one  day  in  New  York,  dinner  next  day  in  Chicago, 
and  supper  the  next  day  out  on  the  plains,  when  tele 
phone  and  telegraph  send  news  faster  than  light  flies, 
when  cotton  picked  from  the  stalk  one  day  is  made 
into  a  suit  of  clothes  the  next,  the  idler  is  out  of  place. 
He  is  born  too  late  and,  as  Dr.  Talmadge  says,  "he 
will  die  too  late."  Carlyle  says:  "The  race  of  life 
has  become  intense ;  the  runners  are  treading  on  each 
others'  heels.  Woe  be  to  that  man  who  stops  to 
tie  his  shoe-strings."  Some  young  men  think  because 
they  are  wealthy  they  can  afford  to  be  idle;  but  no 
man  or  woman  able  to  work  can  be  happy  in  idle 
ness — the  brightest,  broadest-winged  angel  in  heaven 
could  not  be  happy  in  idleness.  His  wings  were 
given  him  to  soar  eternity  with,  and  he  can  only  be 
happy  as  he  does  his  appointed  work. 


George  W.  Bain  239 

Take  care  of  your  principles,  and  to  do  this  start 
right  and  keep  right.  I  heard  of  a  traveler  who  said 
to  a  wayside  farmer,  "How  far  do  you  call  it  to  Phil 
adelphia?"  The  farmer  replied,  "About  twenty-five 
thousand  miles,  the  way  you  are  going;  if  you  turn 
and  go  the  other  way,  it  is  fourteen  miles."  There 
is  a  wonderful  difference  in  the  ways  of  life.  If  you 
start  right  and  keep  right,  no  matter  where  you  start 
from,  you  will  end  right.  Go  find  me  the  poorest 
boy  in  this  city;  let  him  lay  his  hand  on  his  heart 
and  pledge  me  he  will  be  industrious,  honest,  econo 
mical,  and  sober,  and  in  twenty  years  hence  you  will 
find  him  honored  and  "well  to  do"  in  life.  Boys, 
are  any  of  you  poor?  Never  mind  poverty  The 
rich  men  of  to-day  were  poor  boys  thirty  years  ago. 
The  great  men  come  out  of  cabins,  as  a  rule.  Colum 
bus  was  a  weaver,  Hally  was  a  soapmaker,  Homer 
was  a  beggar,  and  Franklin,  whose  name  will  live 
while  lightning  blazes  on  a  cloud,  came  from  the 
printer's  desk.  Fifteen  years  ago  I  rode  horseback 
through  Hardin  and  La  Rue  Counties,  Kentucky. 
We  call  that  the  land  of  ticks  and  lizards.  The  soil 
is  very  poor,  so  poor  that  it  will  not  raise  black-eye 
peas  unless  you  take  them  without  the  eyes.  Riding 
along  that  day  I  came  upon  a  spot  of  rank  weeds 
where  the  soil  had  been  made  rich  by  the  decay  of 
an  old  cabin  that  once  stood  there.  Out  of  that 
cabin  years  ago  came  a  lean,  lank  white-headed  boy. 
If  ever  a  boy  came  from  abject  poverty  that  one  did. 
When  only  seven  years  of  age  he  would  walk  to 
Hodgenville  with  a  basket  of  eggs  to  sell.  The  boys 
laughed  at  him.  They  said  his  clothes  were  like 
Joseph's,  because  so  many  colors.  But  he  was  indus 
trious,  honest,  and  sober.  After  a  while  he  was  old 
enough  to  leave  home,  so  he  went  down  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  rivers  on  a  flatboat.  Then  he  returned 
and  crossing  over  into  Indiana — he  there  split  rails 


240  Oratory  of  the  South 

awhile;  then  on  to  Illinois,  where  he  practiced  law; 
then  on  to  the  Presidential  chair,  and  in  his  death  he 
bore  the  shackles  of  four  million  slaves  and  linked 
his  name  with  that  of  Liberty.  I  thank  God  we  live 
in  a  land  where  a  boy  can  go  from  a  tow-path,  a  tan- 
yard,  or  a  rail-cut  to  the  presidency  of  a  republic. 

To  those  traits  I  have  named,  add  thoroughness. 
We  are  told  that  the  moss  Mungo  Park  brought 
from  the  wMs  of  Africa  was  as  perfect  as  that 
which  inspired  the  song  of  "The  Old  Oaken 
Bucket."  Go  out  on  the  mountain's  crag  where  no 
foot  has  yet  reached  and  get  the  wild  flower  that 
leans  its  pale  cheek  against  the  snow — you  will  find 
it  perfect  as  the  hundred-leaved  rose  of  the  garden 
plot.  Take  the  telescope,  find  the  most  distant  star, 
and  you  will  find  it  as  perfect  as  the  star  of  the  even 
ing,  and  both  singing  as  they  shine,  "The  hand  that 
made  us  is  divine."  God  teaches  us  thoroughness 
in  every  flower  that  blooms,  every  bird  that  sings, 
and  every  star  that  shines.  To  all  these  helpful 
graces  add  the  most  helpful  of  all,  faith  in  God  and 
the  immortality  of  the  human  soul.  Mr.  Ingersoll 
may  criticize  religion,  but  show  me  the  genuine  old 
Christian  into  whose  mind  thoughts  have  come,  lifted 
all  his  life  through  the  Bible,  and  I  will  show  you 
a  scene,  not  like  the  one  he  painted  over  the  graves 
of  his  brother  and  friend,  which  reminded  me  of 
the  poor  bird,  driven  by  the  storm  far  out  on  the 
sea,  trying  to  rest  its  weary  wing  on  the  crest  of  the 
wind-driven  wave,  but  I  will  show  you  an  Indian 
summer  scene,  with  rosy  clouds  going  down  on  the 
horizon  shell-tinted  with  glories  of  the  setting  sun. 
Mr.  Ingersoll  may  say,  "You  cannot  follow  your 
Christian  man  through  the  night  of  death  and  tell 
me  his  fate  in  the  eternal  morning."  That  may  be 
true,  but  I  can  say  this:  "If  there  is  another  world 
he's  in  bliss.  If  not,  he's  made  the  best  of  this." 


Fitzhugh  Lee  241 

THE   FLAG  OF  THE  UNION  FOREVER 

FITZHUGH  LEE 
Formerly  Governor  of  Virginia 

[A  speech  delivered  at  a  dinner  of  the  Hibernian  Society 
of  Philadelphia,  September  17,  1887.] 

You  have  all  heard  of  George  Washington  and 
his  little  hatchet.  The  other  day  I  heard  a  story  that 
was  a  little  variation  upon  the  original,  and  I  am 
going  to  take  up  your  time  for  a  minute  by  repeating  it 
to  you.  It  was  to  this  effect:  Old  Mr.  Washington 
and  Mrs.  Washington,  the  parents  of  George,  found 
on  one  occasion  that  their  supply  of  soap  had  become 
exhausted  and  so  they  decided  to  make  some  family 
soap.  They  made  the  necessary  arrangements  and 
gave  the  requisite  instructions  to  the  family  servant. 
After  an  hour  or  so  the  servant  returned  and  re 
ported  to  them  that  he  could  not  make  that  soap. 
"Why  not,"  he  was  asked,  "haven't  you  got  all  the 
materials?"  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "but  there  is  some 
thing  wrong."  The  old  folks  proceeded  to  investi 
gate,  and  they  found  they  had  actually  got  the  ashes 
of  the  little  cherry  tree  George  had  cut  down  with 
his  hatchet,  and  there  was  no  lye  in  it. 

Now,  I  assure  you,  there  is  no  "lie"  in  what  I  say 
to  you  this  afternoon,  and  that  is,  that  I  thank  God 
for  the  sun  of  the  Union  which,  once  obscured,  is  now 
again  in  the  full  stage  of  its  glory,  and  that  its  light 
is  shining  over  Virginia  as  well  as  over  the  rest  of 
the  country.  We  have  had  our  differences.  I  do 
not  see,  upon  reading  history,  how  they  could  well 
have  been  avoided,  because  they  resulted  from  dif 
ferent  constructions  of  the  Constitution,  which  was 
the  helm  of  the  ship  of  the  Republic.  Virginia  con 
strued  it  one  way.  Pennsylvania  construed  it  an 
other,  and  they  could  not  settle  their  differences;  so 

16 


242  Oratory  of  the  South 

they  went  to  war,  and  Pennsylvania,  I  think,  probably 
got  a  little  the  best  of  it. 

The  sword,  at  any  rate,  settled  the  controversy. 
But  that  is  behind  us.  We  have  now  a  great  and 
glorious  future  in  front  of  us,  and  it  is  Virginia's 
duty  to  do  all  that  she  can  to  promote  the  honor  and 
glory  of  this  country.  We  fought  to  the  best  of 
our  ability  for  four  years;  and  it  would  be  a  great 
mistake  to  assume  that  you  could  bring  men  from 
their  cabins,  from  their  plows,  from  their  houses  and 
from  their  families  to  make  them  fight  as  they  fought 
in  that  contest  unless  they  were  fighting  for  a  belief. 
Those  men  believed  that  they  had  the  right  construc 
tion  of  the  Constitution,  and  that  a  State  that  volun 
tarily  entered  the  Union  could  voluntarily  withdraw 
from  it.  They  did  not  fight  for  Confederate 
money — it  was  not  worth  ten  cents  a  yard.  They 
fought  for  what  they  thought  was  a  proper  con 
struction  of  the  Constitution.  They  were  defeated. 
They  acknowledged  their  defeat.  They  came  back 
to  their  homes,  and  there  they  are  going  to  stay.  But 
if  we  are  to  continue  prosperous,  if  this  country, 
stretching  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Lakes  and  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  is  to  be  mindful  of  its  own  best  in 
terests,  in  the  future  we  will  have  to  make  conces 
sions  and  compliances,  we  will  have  to  bear  with  each 
other  and  to  respect  each  other's  opinions.  If  all 
the  people  of  different  sections  had  been  known  to 
each  other,  or  had  been  thrown  together  in  business 
or  social  communication,  the  fact  would  have  been 
recognized  at  the  outset,  as  it  is  to-day,  that  there 
are  just  as  good  men  in  Maine  as  there  are  in  Texas, 
and  just  as  good  men  in  Texas  as  there  are  in  Maine. 
Human  nature  is  everywhere  the  same;  and  when 
intestine  strifes  occur,  we  will  doubtless  be  able  by 
a  conservative,  pacific  course  to  pass  smoothly  over 
the  rugged,  rocky  edges,  and  the  old  Ship  of  State 


Joseph  Wheeler  243 

will  be  brought  into  a  safe,  commodious,  Constitu 
tional  harbor  with  the  flag  of  the  Union  floating  over 
her,  and  there  it  will  remain. 


THE   AMERICAN    SOLDIER 

JOSEPH  WHEELER 

Brigadier-General  of  the  United  States  Army  and  hero 
of  two  wars;  popularly  known  as  "Fighting  Joe" 
Wheeler;  some  time  member  of  Congress  from 
Alabama. 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  Con 
federate  Veteran  Camp  of  New  York,  New  York  City,  Jan 
uary  19,  1898.] 

History  has  many  heroes  whose  martial  renown 
has  fired  the  world,  whose  daring  and  wonderful 
exploits  have  altered  the  boundaries  of  nations  and 
changed  the  very  face  of  the  earth.  To  say  noth 
ing  of  the  warriors  of  Biblical  history  and  Homeric 
verse,  as  the  ages  march  along  every  great  nation 
leaves  us  the  glorious  memory  of  some  unique  char 
acter,  such  as  Alexander,  Hannibal,  or  Caesar.  Even 
the  wild  hordes  of  northern  Europe  and  the  barbaric 
nations  of  the  East  had  their  grand  military  leaders 
whose  names  will  ever  live  on  history's  pages,  to  be 
eclipsed  only  by  that  of  Napoleon,  the  man  of  des 
tiny,  who,  as  a  military  genius,  stands  alone  and  un 
rivaled:  "Grand,  gloomy,  peculiar,  he  sat  upon  the 
throne,  a  sceptered  hermit,  wrapped  in  the  solitude 
of  his  awful  originality." 

The  medieval  ages  gave  us  noble  examples  of  de- 
votedness  and  chivalry;  but  it  belonged  to  the  Ameri 
can  Republic,  founded  and  defended  by  Freedom's 
sons,  to  give  to  the  world  the  noblest  type  of  warrior; 
men  in  whom  martial  renown  went  hand  in  hand  with 
the  noblest  of  virtues;  men  who  united  In  their  own 


244  Oratory  of  the  South 

characters  the  highest  military  genius  with  the  loftiest 
patriotism,  the  most  daring  courage  with  the  gentlest 
courtesy,  the  most  obstinate  endurance  with  the  ut 
most  self-sacrifice,  the  genius  of  a  Caesar  with  the 
courage  and  purity  of  a  Bayard.  Patriotism  and 
love  of  liberty,  expanding  and  thriving  in  the  atmos 
phere  of  free  America,  added  a  refining  touch  to  the 
martial  enthusiasm  of  our  forefathers  and  elevated 
the  character  of  the  American  soldier  to  a  standard 
never  attained  by  fighting  men  of  any  other  age  or 
nation. 

Volumes  would  never  do  justice  to  the  valorous 
achievements  of  George  Washington  and  his  com 
peers,  the  boys  of  '76;  of  the  heroes  of  1812  and 
of  1 848 ;  of  the  men  in  blue  who  fought  under 
Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  Thomas,  and  Farragut; 
of  the  men  in  pray  who  followed  the  lead  of  Johns 
ton,  Jackson,  and  Lee  from  1861  to  1865;  of  the 
intrepid  band  that  sailed  with  Dewey  into  Manila 
Bay,  or  of  the  small  but  heroic  army  of  1898  that 
fought  at  Las  Guasimas,  El  Caney,  and  San  Juan, 
and  left  the  Stars  and  Stripes  floating  in  triumph 
over  the  last  stronghold  of  Spain  in  the  New  World. 

But  above  the  grand  heroic  names  immortalized 
by  historian  and  poet  shines,  with  an  undimmed  lus 
ter  all  its  own,  the  immortal  name  of  Robert  Ed 
ward  Lee. 

"Ah,  Muse!     You  dare  not  claim 
A  nobler  man  than  he — 
Nor  nobler  man  hath  less  of  blame, 
Nor  blameless  man  hath  purer  name, 
Nor  purer  name  hath  grander  fame, 
Nor  fame  another  Lee." 

The  late  Benjamin  H.  Hill,  of  Georgia,  thus  beau 
tifully  describes  Lee's  character:  "He  was  a  foe 
without  hate ;  a  friend  without  treachery ;  a  soldier 


Richard  P.  Hobson  245 

without  cruelty;  a  victor  without  oppression,  and  a 
victim  without  murmuring.  He  was  a  public  officer 
without  vices;  a  private  citizen  without  wrong;  a 
neighbor  without  reproach;  a  Christian  without 
hypocrisy,  and  a  man  without  guile.  He  was  Caesar 
without  his  ambition;  Frederick  without  his  tyranny; 
Napoleon  without  his  selfishness,  and  Washington 
without  his  reward.  He  was  as  obedient  to  au 
thority  as  a  servant,  and  royal  in  authority  as  a  true 
king.  He  was  gentle  as  a  woman  in  life,  and  modest 
and  pure  as  a  virgin  in  thought ;  watchful  as  a  Roman 
vestal  in  duty;  submissive  to  law  as  Socrates,  and 
grand  in  battle  as  Achilles !" 

And  among  the  foremost  holding  these  sentiments 
to-day  are  the  brave  soldiers  against  whom  you  were 
once  arrayed  in  battle,  and  they,  together  with  seventy 
million  Americans,  know  that  in  future  perils  to  our 
country  you  and  your  children  will  be  foremost  in 
the  battle-line  of  duty,  proud  of  the  privilege  of  de 
fending  the  glory,  honor,  and  prestige  of  our  coun 
try,  presenting  under  the  folds  of  our  national  ensign 
an  unbroken  phalanx  of  united  hearts — an  impreg 
nable  bulwark  of  defense  against  any  power  that 
may  arise  against  us. 


FOR   A   LARGER    NAVY 

RICHARD  P.    HOBSON 
Congressman  from  Alabama 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  April  n,  1908,  in  favor  of  authorizing  the 
construction  of  four  new  battleships.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  self-preservation  is  the  first  law 
of  nature,  whether  it  applies  to  a  plant,  to  an  animal, 
to  a  man,  or  a  nation.  Provision  may  be  individual 


246  Oratory  of  the  South 

or  collective.  Men  in  organized  communities  have 
provided  collectively  for  self-defense.  Collective 
provision  is  infinitely  preferable  to  the  individual  pro 
vision,  not  only  because  it  is  far  more  effective,  but 
also  because  it  relieves  individuals  from  the  more 
or  less  injurious  task  of  going  armed.  Arbitration 
is  infinitely  preferable  to  armaments.  But,  Mr. 
Chairman,  there  must  always  be  adequate  provision 
for  self-defense  of  one  kind  or  the  other.  No  form 
of  life  on  this  earth  is  left  to  the  benevolence  of  other 
life  for  its  preservation.  It  is  wrong,  it  is  flying 
in  the  face  of  the  Almighty  who  created  us  to  ask 
it  to  be  otherwise.  Therefore  it  simply  remains,  in 
providing  for  national  defense,  to  determine  whether 
adequate  collective  provision  is  attainable  or  whether, 
as  a  nation,  we  must  depend  upon  our  own  national 
provision. 

My  countrymen,  do  not  let  us  be  deceived.  The 
question  of  self-preservation  is  too  vital  to  be  trifled 
with.  Until  long  years  after  an  international  or 
ganization  is  created  we  must  still  rely  upon  ourselves. 
Until  arbitration  has  been  extended  to  all  questions 
and  has  proven  itself  effective  we  must  look  to  our 
selves  for  national  self-preservation.  Upon  what  in 
strumentalities  must  we  depend?  Either  armies  or 
navies.  Armies  involve  men  in  vast  numbers,  taking 
them  from  their  work.  Navies  involve  ships,  leav- 
the  men  at  work.  Armies  are  in  the  midst  of  the 
people;  navies  are  far  away  on  the  sea.  Armies 
may  tend  to  undermine  the  institutions  of  a  country. 
No  navy  has  ever  usurped  civil  power  or  overturned 
a  government  since  the  world  began.  On  the  con 
trary,  navies  have  been  the  cradle  of  liberty,  protect 
ing  the  citizens  of  a  country  in  their  peaceful  pursuits 
and  relieving  them  from  the  pursuit  of  arms. 

For  these  reasons  all  nations  of  the  earth  have 
chosen  naval  power  as  far  as  conditions  permitted. 


Richard  P.  Hobson  247 

Here  in  America  the  conditions  for  naval  power  are 
ideal.  By  controlling  the  waters  that  lead  to  our 
shores  our  nation  could  realize  a  perfect  security  and 
our  citizens  could  continue  in  tranquillity  to  work  out 
their  glorious  destiny. 

In  provision  for  a  navy,  I  submit  that  there  should 
not  only  be  adequate  power  to  win  the  war,  if  it 
must  come,  but  adequate  power  to  prevent  the  war, 
if  possible,  and  this  means,  my  countrymen,  that  in 
the  waters  in  question  there  should  be  a  substantial 
margin  of  superiority.  When  navies  seem  to  be 
about  equal,  the  aggressive  power  believes  in  its  own, 
and  it  will  take  occasion  to  put  it  to  a  test. 

The  great  European  centers  have  been  built  in 
land.  America's  great  centers  have  been  built  on 
her  waterways.  On  her  Atlantic  coast  line  alone 
there  are  15,800,000  of  American  citizens  living 
within  gunshot  of  the  water,  with  seventeen  billions 
six  hundred  millions  of  property.  On  the  Gulf  there 
are  1,900,000  people  and  eight  hundred  millions  of 
property.  On  the  Great  Lakes  there  are  7,000,000 
of  people  and  seven  billions  two  hundred  millions  of 
property.  On  the  Mississippi  River  and  its  navi 
gable  tributaries  there  are  eleven  and  a  half  millions 
of  people  and  eight  billions  six  hundred  millions  of 
property.  We  are  the  most  exposed  nation  on 
earth — 36,000,000  of  our  people  and  thirty-seven 
billions  of  our  property  now  lying  within  gunshot 
of  the  water,  more  citizens  exposed  than  there  are 
citizens  exposed  in  all  Europe  combined,  more  prop 
erty  exposed  than  there  is  property  in  all  the  rest  of 
the  world  combined. 

An  expedition  can  leave  Europe  from  any  one  of 
the  great  maritime  powers  with  less  than  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  men,  and  in  three  weeks  that  ex 
pedition  can  capture  Washington  City,  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia,  and  New  York  without  any  possibility 


248  Oratouy  of  the  South 

of  substantial  resistance.  Furthermore,  before  we 
could  assemble  an  army  capable  of  expelling  them 
from  one  city  they  could  have  done  what  they  pleased 
with  all  that  property  and  embark  practically  with 
out  loss.  The  expedition  would  destroy  our  ship 
yards,  our  navy-yards,  and  arsenals,  and  leave  us  im 
potent.  We  would  have  to  start  all  over  and  build 
a  new  navy.  How  long  would  it  take  us  ?  Perhaps 
ten  years.  And  at  how  much  cost?  Untold  billions. 
Then  we  would  have  to  create  a  stupendous  transport 
service  and  a  great  army,  turning  our  citizens  from 
their  peaceful  pursuits  to  the  profession  of  arms. 
Then  we  would  have  to  go  across  the  ocean,  where 
no  base  could  be  found  and  where  a  great  army 
would  resist  any  attempt  to  land.  Without  a  ready 
army,  without  bases  in  Europe,  without  a  merchant 
marine,  the  United  States  could  be  raided  without  a 
chance  for  retaliation.  We  would  win  in  the  end, 
but  at  what  a  cost! 

My  countrymen,  this  should  not  be  permitted  to 
continue.  As  a  simple  matter  of  insurance,  as  a  po 
lice  proposition,  America  must  have  a  navy  capable 
of  controlling  the  ocean  in  the  Atlantic  against  any 
nation  of  Europe.  I  am  not  talking  war,  I  am  talk 
ing  facts.  We  have  90,000,000  of  people.  I  will 
take  a  second  place  to  no  man  in  appreciating  their 
strength  and  their  willingness,  if  necessary,  to  fight 
for  liberty  and  for  home  and  country,  but  the  yellow 
man  can  fire  as  straight  as  the  white  man.  The  yel 
low  man  can  live  on  one-tenth  of  what  the  white  man 
can.  We  have  felt  free  from  danger  from  invasion 
from  Europe,  although  we  are  not  free  from  raids. 
We  may  be  free  from  invasion  from  Europe,  but, 
my  countrymen,  we  are  not  free  from  invasion  from 
Asia.  The  location  of  our  Pacific  coast  places  it, 
with  the  open  ocean  toward  Asia,  in  a  dangerous 
condition,  with  Japan  in  alliance  with  a  great  mari- 


Richard  P.  Hobson  249 

time  power  of  Europe  that  would  keep  the  ocean 
open.  The  unlimited  myriads  of  Asia  could  descend 
upon  our  shores.  We  are  within  reasonable  dis 
tance  of  the  point  where  this  nation  may  have  to 
fight  for  its  very  existence. 

There  are  those  who  are  afraid  that  if  we  have  a 
great  navy  we  will  abuse  the  power.  But  I  ask  any 
gentleman  here,  would  your  constituents  have  this 
nation  play  the  part  of  a  bully,  simply  because  we 
had  a  big  navy?  Of  course  not.  It  is  not  so  abroad. 
Abroad  a  czar,  an  emperor,  a  monarch,  or  an  am 
bitious  dynasty  can  have  a  nation's  power  turned  to 
conquest  and  oppression.  In  America  it  would  have 
to  be  the  people,  and  they  would  not  do  it.  In  an 
alyzing  the  power  that  there  is  in  90,000,000  of 
people,  you  know  we  have  found  out  that  they  are 
the  safest  guardians  of  liberty.  Do  you  not  realize 
that  those  90,000,000  of  people,  men  who  do  not 
hate  any  other  people  in  the  world  engaged  in  peace 
ful  pursuits,  are  the  one  repository  in  this  world  with 
which  you  can  trust  great  power? 

I  submit  it  to  you,  as  long  as  nations  have  to  have 
navies,  then  America,  the  peace  nation,  ought  to  have 
the  biggest  navy.  You  cannot  escape  this  conclusion. 
But  some  say  that  this  is  the  advocacy  of  force.  It 
is  nothing  of  the  kind.  I  have  lived  in  Europe,  I 
have  lived  in  Asia,  I  have  seen  enough  of  the  reign 
of  might  and  brute  force  around  the  world.  The 
reign  of  might  and  brute  force  is  the  trouble  with 
the  suffering  world.  It  is  time  some  nation  of  peace 
and  beneficence  could  have  some  influence  in  the  great 
councils  of  the  nations.  This  is  the  way  in  which 
is  the  shortest  time  to  put  an  end  to  the  reign  of  force 
in  the  world.  Some  say,  "Oh,  he  is  a  young  man  who 
wants  war;  he  has  had  a  taste  of  war."  Mr.  Chair 
man,  it  cured  me,  that  taste  did.  I  see  men  before 
me  who  in  the  great  war  would  get  up  before  break- 


250  Oratory  of  the  South 

fast  and  do  more  fighting  than  was  done  in  the  Span 
ish  war  altogether.  You  ask  them  if  they  do  not 
believe  me.  I  do  not  care  how  hot-blooded  a  man 
may  be  before  he  goes  in.  Let  him  go  in  and  get  a 
taste  of  war,  and  that  will  make  of  him  a  disciple  of 
peace  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  There  has  never  been 
a  greater  slander  on  any  men  than  to  say  that  men  of 
war  want  war. 

I  have  gone  tirelessly  about  the  land  night  and  day, 
just  pleading  for  peace  because  I  see  the  war  clouds 
are  gathering — clouds  that  would  bring  not  only  war 
between  nations  of  the  white  race,  but  a  great  war 
between  the  races  of  the  world,  and  I  see  America 
upon  the  apex  in  mid-ocean,  the  friend  of  all  nations, 
kin  to  the  other  nations,  the  one  great  nation  without 
territorial  ambition,  standing  for  the  rights  of  men 
and  for  those  just  policies  between  nations  that  make 
peace,  enduring  peace,  possible.  I  see  America 
placed  here  to  send  the  black  clouds  of  war  back  be 
low  the  horizon.  It  is  not  a  dream,  not  a  vision. 
You  and  I  can  make  it  possible.  Let  us  begin  now 
by  authorizing  four  battleships  in  this  appropriation 
bill. 


THE  NAVY  IN  PEACE  AND  WAR 

WINFIELD   SCOTT  SCHLEY 
Rear-Admiral  In  the  United  States  Navy 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  dinner  of  the  New 
England  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  in  Philadelphia,  December 
22,  1898.] 

The  navy  is  that  arm  of  the  public  defense  the  na 
ture  of  whose  duties  is  dual,  in  that  they  relate  to 
both  peace  and  war.  In  times  of  peace  the  Navy 
blazes  the  way  across  the  trackless  deep,  maps  out 


Winfield  Scott  Schley  251 

and  marks  the  dangers  which  lie  in  the  routes  of 
commerce,  in  order  that  the  peaceful  argosies  of  trade 
may  pursue  safe  routes  to  the  distant  markets  of  the 
world,  there  to  exchange  the  varied  commodities  of 
commerce.  It  penetrates  the  jungle  and  the  tangle 
of  the  inter-tropical  regions.  It  stands  ready  to 
starve  to  death  or  to  die  from  exposure.  It  pushes 
its  way  into  the  icy  fastnesses  of  the  north  or  of  the 
south,  in  order  that  it  may  discover  new  channels  of 
trade.  It  carries  the  influences  of  your  power  and 
the  beneficent  advantages  of  your  civilization  to  the 
secluded  and  hermit  empires  of  the  Eastern  world, 
and  brings  them  in  touch  with  our  Western  civiliza 
tion  and  its  love  of  law  for  the  sake  of  the  law  rather 
than  for  fear  of  the  law's  punishments.  It  stands 
guard  upon  the  outer  frontiers  of  civilization,  in  pes 
tilential  climates,  performing  duties  that  are  beyond 
the  public  observation,  but  yet  which  have  their 
happy  influence  in  maintaining  the  reputation  and 
character  of  our  country  and  extending  the  civilizing 
agency  of  its  commerce. 

The  bones  of  officers  and  men  of  the  Navy  lie  in 
every  country  of  the  world,  or  along  the  highways 
of  commerce;  they  mark  the  resting-places  of  mar 
tyrs  to  a  sense  of  duty  that  is  stronger  than  any  fear 
of  death.  The  Navy  works  and  strives  and  serves, 
without  any  misgivings  and  without  any  complaints, 
only  that  it  may  be  considered  the  chief  and  best 
guardian  of  the  interests  of  this  people,  of  the  pres 
tige  of  this  nation,  and  of  the  glory  and  renown  of  its 
flag. 

These  are  some  of  the  duties  of  peace,  which  has 
its  triumphs  "no  less  renowned  than  war."  But  it  is 
the  martial  side  of  the  Navy  that  is  the  more  at 
tractive  one  to  us.  It  is  that  side  of  its  duty  which 
presents  to  us  its  characters  who  have  written  their 
names  and  their  fames  in  fire.  No  matter  what  may 


252  Oratory  of  the  South 

be  our  ideas  of  civilization  or  how  high  our  notions 
of  peace,  there  is  no  one  of  us  who  has  not  felt  his 
heart  beat  a  little  bit  faster  and  his  blood  course  a 
little  bit  more  rapidly  when  reading  of  the  daring 
and  thrilling  deeds  of  such  men  as  John  Paul  Jones, 
or  of  Decatur,  or  of  Stewart,  or  of  Hull,  or  of 
Perry,  or  of  MacDonald,  or  of  Tatnall,  or  of  In 
gram,  or  of  Gushing,  or  of  Porter,  or  of  Farragut. 

The  war  so  happily  ended  has  added  new  names 
to  the  galaxy  of  naval  worthies.  New  stars  are  in 
the  firmament.  The  men  of  our  Navy  have  proven 
that  they  are  able  to  defend  their  title  to  the  spurs 
thev  inherited. 


THE  HERO  OF  SANTIAGO 

ISADOR  RAYNER 
United  States  Senator  from  Maryland 

[The  conclusion  of  his  argument  before  the  Schley  Court 
of  Inquiry,  November  6,  1901.] 

Such  a  trial  as  this  has  never,  to  my  knowledge, 
taken  place  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  seemed 
to  my  mind  that  this  case  had  hardly  opened  with 
the  testimony  of  Captain  Higginson,  before  it  com 
menced  to  totter,  and  from  day  to  day  its  visionary 
fabric  has  dissolved  from  view.  When  Captain 
Cook,  their  last  witness,  was  put  upon  the  stand,  the 
entire  structure  collapsed,  and  now  after  the  witnesses 
from  our  own  ships  and  the  gallant  captain  and  crew 
of  the  Oregon  and  Admiral  Schley  have  narrated 
their  unvarnished  tale,  the  whole  tenement,  with  all 
of  its  compartments,  from  its  foundation  to  its  tur 
ret,  has  disintegrated  and  lies  like  a  mass  of  black 
ened  ruins. 

It  has  taken  three  years  to  reveal  the  truth.   There 


Isador  Rayner  253 

is  not  a  single  word  that  has  fallen  from  the  tongue 
of  a  single  witness,  friend  or  foe,  that  casts  the 
shadow  of  a  reflection  upon  the  honored  name  of 
the  hero  of  Santiago.  He  has  never  claimed  the 
glory  of  that  day.  Let  it  be  known  he  has  never 
claimed  the  glory  of  that  day.  No  word  to  this 
effect  has  ever  gone  forth  from  him  to  the  American 
people.  The  valiant  Cook,  the  heroic  Clark,  the  la 
mented  Philip,  the  intrepid  and  undaunted  Wain- 
wright,  and  all  the  other  captains,  and  every  man 
at  every  gun,  and  every  soul  on  board  of  every  ship 
are  equal  participants  with  Admiral  Schley  in  the 
honor  wrought  upon  that  immortal  day.  We  can 
not  strike  his  figure  down  standing  upon  the  bridge 
of  the  Brooklyn.  Says  the  Boatswain  Hill,  "Every 
head  was  bowed  but  his  as  the  Spanish  shot  and 
shell  fell  thick  and  fast,"  and  sent  the  life  blood 
streaming  from  young  Ellis,  this  gallant  martyr  for 
his  country's  cause. 

We  cannot  strike  him  down.  "You  may  assas 
sinate  me,  but  you  cannot  intimidate  me,"  said  the 
Irish  patriot  Curran,  as  he  turned  upon  his  accusers 
and  traducers.  There  he  stands  upon  the  bridge  of 
the  Brooklyn,  his  ship  almost  alone,  receiving  the 
entire  fire  of  the  Spanish  foe,  until  the  Oregon,  as  if 
upon  the  wings  of  lightning,  sped  into  the  thickness 
of  this  mortal  carnage.  "God  bless  the  Oregon!" 
was  the  cheer  that  rang  from  deck  to  deck;  and  on 
they  went,  twin  brothers  in  the  chase,  until  the  lee 
gun  was  fired  from  the  Cristobal  Colon  and  the  des 
potic  colors  of  Spain  were  swept  from  the  face  of 
her  ancient  possessions.  "Well  done;  congratulate 
you  on  the  victory,"  was  the  streamer  that  was  sent 
from  the  halyard  of  the  Brooklyn,  and  from  that 
day  to  this  no  man  has  ever  heard  from  Admiral 
Schley  the  slightest  whisper  or  intimation  that  he  has 
usurped  the  glory  of  that  imperishable  hour.  The 


254  Oratory  of  the  South 

thunders  of  the  Brooklyn,  as  she  trembled  on  the 
waves,  have  been  discordant  music  to  the  ears  of 
envious  foes,  but  they  have  pierced  with  a  ringing 
melody  the  ears  of  his  countrymen  and  struck  a  re 
sponsive  chord  at  the  fireside  of  every  American 
home.  And  what  is  more  than  all,  which  has  been 
revealed  in  this  case,  as  matchless  as  his  courage, 
and  as  unsullied  as  his  honor,  is  his  beautiful  charac 
ter  and  the  generous  spirit  that  animates  his  soul  and 
the  forgiving  heart  that  beats  within  his  bosom. 

No;  we  cannot  strike  him  down.  Erect  he  stands 
as  the  MacGregor  when  his  step  was  on  his  native 
heather  and  his  eye  was  on  the  peak  of  Ben  Lo 
mond.  His  country  does  not  want  to  strike  him 
down  nor  cast  a  blur  upon  the  pure  escutcheon  of  his 
honored  name. 

For  three  long  years  he  has  suffered,  and  now, 
thank  God,  he  believes  that  the  hour  of  his  vindi 
cation  has  come.  With  composure,  with  resignation, 
with  supreme  and  unfaltering  fortitude,  he  awaits  the 
judgment  of  this  illustrious  tribunal;  and  if  that  de 
liverance  comes,  he  can  from  the  high  and  exalted 
position  that  he  occupies  look  down  upon  his  tra- 
ducers  and  maligners,  and  with  exultant  pride  ex 
claim:  "I  care  not  for  the  venomous  gossip  of  clubs 
and  drawing-rooms  and  cliques  and  cabals,  nor  for 
the  poisoned  shafts  of  envy  and  of  malice.  I  await, 
under  the  guidance  of  Divine  Providence,  the  ver 
dict  of  posterity." 

FOR  A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION 

DAVID  A.  DE  ARMOND 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  December  n,  1906.] 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  agitation  in  the 
country  from  time  to  time,  and  there  is  perhaps  a 


David  A.  DeArmond  255 

good  deal  now,  over  the  proposed  amendment  of 
the  Constitution  in  a  good  many  important  particu 
lars.  With  some  of  this  agitation  and  some  of  these 
movements  I  am  in  sympathy ;  with  others  I  am  not. 
A  great  many  very  good  people,  entitled  to  their 
views  and  entitled  to  a  hearing  upon  them,  are  of 
the  opinion  that  in  a  good  many  important  particu 
lars  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  amended.  For  in 
stance,  there  are  those  who  believe  that  it  ought  to 
be  amended  so  as  to  provide  for  female  suffrage. 
Others  would  have  a  marriage  and  divorce  amend 
ment.  Some  believe  it  should  be  amended  with  ref 
erence  to  the  liquor  traffic,  or  by  way  of  prohibition 
of  the  liquor  traffic.  Many  believe  there  ought  to 
be  a  constitutional  provision  for  the  election  of 
United  States  Senators  by  direct  vote  of  the  people. 
There  are  those  who  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President  should  also  be  chosen  by  a 
direct  vote.  Some  believe  the  Presidential  term 
ought  to  be  six  years  instead  of  four  years,  and  that 
the  President  ought  to  be  ineligible  for  reelection 
as  his  own  successor.  Some  people,  particularly  in 
the  latitude  of  Washington,  believe  it  is  vastly  im 
portant  to  have  the  Presidential  term  begin  later  in 
the  season,  so  that  inauguration  day  may  fall  at  a 
time  when  the  weather  is  more  agreeable  and  fit  for 
a  pageant  than  it  is  likely  to  be  about  the  fourth  day 
of  March.  A  great  many  people  believe  that  Con 
gress  ought  to  be  convened  shortly  after  the  election, 
instead  of  thirteen  months  after  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  are  chosen.  There  are 
some  who  believe  that  provision  ought  to  be  made 
in  the  Constitution  whereby  the  Government,  under 
suitable  regulations  of  law,  might  insure  the  lives  of 
citizens  of  this  great  Republic.  I  am  one  of  those 
who  entertain  that  opinion.  Life  insurance  by  the 
Government  could  be  made  both  safe  and  profitable; 


256  Oratory  of  the  South 

and  what  a  boon  to  the  people  to  get  insurance  at 
what  it  is  worth !  There  are  people  who  believe  that 
by  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  greater  power, 
better  defined  power,  power  that  may  be  more  easily 
exercised  and  more  effectively  employed,  might  be 
supplied  for  dealing  with  great  trusts  and  other 
mighty  corporate  agencies  of  the  land. 

I  need  not  take  the  time  to  enumerating  the  va 
rious  matters  concerning  which  amendments  have 
been  and  are  persistently  urged  and  earnestly  desired. 
I  mention  some  of  them  merely  as  preliminary  to  the 
consideration  of  whether  or  not  it  might  be  advisable 
for  the  people  of  this  country,  by  action  of  their  va 
rious  State  legislatures,  to  call  upon  Congress  to 
make  provision  for  a  constitutional  convention,  in 
which  all  the  plans  and  schemes  of  amendment 
might  be  presented.  Such  a  convention  surely  would 
be  composed,  in  part  at  least,  of  the  ablest  men  in 
the  land.  It  would  be  a  very  great  body  of  Ameri 
can  statesmen  and  citizens.  I  believe  the  very  fact 
of  the  assembling  of  such  a  convention — I  believe, 
indeed,  the  preliminary  discussions  leading  up  to  it  or 
designed  to  bring  it  about — would  be  productive  of 
much  good  in  legislation  in  Congress  and  in  the  sev 
eral  State  legislatures. 

Now,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  believe  that  the 
old  Constitution  is  worn  out,  or  that  the  ingenuity 
and  statesmanship  and  patriotism  of  to-day  would 
be  likely  to  supply  something  which  in  its  funda 
mental  principles  would  be  any  improvement  upon, 
or  even  as  good  as,  that  old  instrument;  but  I  am 
one  of  those  who  do  believe  that  a  constitution  made 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  when  conditions 
were  vastly  different,  when  corporations  were  in  their 
infancy,  when  our  population  was  sparse,  when 
wealth  was  not  concentrated,  when  great  agencies  in 
government  were  not  employed  as  they  are  employed 


David  A.  DeAnnond  257 

now,  before  the  day  of  the  telegraph  and  telephone 
and  the  many  triumphs  of  electricity,  before  many  of 
the  mighty  inventions  of  to-day  and  yesterday  were 
dreamed  of;  that  a  constitution  made  then  may  lack 
something  now.  I  believe  the  makers  did  not  em 
body  in  that  instrument  of  matchless  worth,  our  Con 
stitution,  all  that  might  be  or  is  now  sufficient  or 
desirable  for  present  needs  or  to  equip  the  people 
to  meet  the  rapidly  growing  needs  of  the  future  of 
a  great  country.  I  believe  a  convention  of  American 
citizens,  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
various  propositions  to  amend  that  Constitution, 
would  be  likely  to  submit  some  wholesome  and  timely 
amendments,  perhaps  a  good  many,  but  some,  at 
least,  which  would  meet  the  approval  of  the  American 
people;  and,  by  their  sovereign  will,  be  made  part 
of  the  Constitution. 

But,  as  to  the  main  proposition.  Here  we  have  a 
Constitution,  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  ever  brought 
into  being  by  human  brains;  we  have  a  Constitu 
tion  framed  in  the  infancy  of  the  Republic,  framed 
in  the  primitive  days,  before  the  great  railroad  had 
an  existence,  before  great  electric  motors  and  tele 
graph  and  telephone  were  known;  before  the 
modern  agencies  called  "trusts"  had  a  being  or  were 
dreamed  of;  before  the  appearance  of  the  million 
aire  as  a  common  every-day  citizen;  before  the  near 
approach  of  the  billionaire;  before  the  aggregation 
of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  millions  of  dollars 
under  single  control;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  in  our 
progress,  in  the  history  of  our  nation  and  of  the 
world,  we  certainly  have  reached  a  time  when  it 
might  be  wise  to  assemble  a  convention  to  consider 
whether  or  not  amendments  could  with  profit  be 
proposed  to  the  great  conservator  of  our  liberties; 
and  if  they  should  be  proposed,  for  the  people  de 
liberately,  after  their  own  manner,  in  their  own 

17 


258  Oratory  of  the  South 

fashion,  to  consider  whether  or  not  the  Constitution 
should  be  amended. 


THE    NEGRO    PROBLEM 

EATON   J.   BOWERS 

Congressman  from  Mississippi 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  April  8,  1904.] 

Let  me  say  to  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts 
that  it  is  evident  that  we  have  at  least  two  theories 
as  to  how  the  negro  should  be  dealt  with.  One  may 
be  termed  his  idea  of  the  development  by  higher 
education,  social  equality,  and  the  like,  while  the 
other  may  be  dominated  the  Southern  idea  of  abso 
lute  segregation  of  the  two  races,  the  fitting  the  negro 
only  for  that  sphere  and  station  which,  based  upon 
an  experience  born  of  more  than  a  century's  know 
ledge  of  him  as  a  slave  and  nearly  forty  years'  ex 
perience  with  him  as  a  freedman,  we  believe  he  can 
acceptably  and  worthily  fill,  with  absolute  denial  of 
social  intercourse  and  with  every  restriction  on  his 
participation  in  political  affairs  or  government  that  is 
permissible  under  the  Federal  Constitution. 

Let  us  see,  in  the  light  of  statistics,  which  idea  has 
borne  the  best  results.  In  Massachusetts  the  ratio  of 
criminals  among  the  negroes  in  1890  was  7.271  per 
thousand;  in  Mississippi,  1.425  per  thousand.  In 
other  words,  the  negro  in  Mississippi  is  six  times  bet 
ter  than  the  negro  in  Massachusetts,  notwithstanding 
the  Massachusetts  negro  is  vastly  superior  in  edu 
cation  to  his  more  moral  and  prosperous  brother  in 
.Mississippi  The  Massachusetts  negro,  under  his 
theory,  is  six  times  as  criminal  as  his  brother  in  Mis 
sissippi,  who  is  the  product  of  ours. 


Eaton  J.  Bowers  259 

In  New  York  the  negro  criminals  are  10  per  thou 
sand.  In  Alabama  they  are  3.089  per  thousand. 
In  Pennsylvania  the  ratio  is  6.859  per  thousand. 
In  Louisiana  it  is  2.214  per  thousand.  In  Con 
necticut  it  is  5.446  per  thousand,  while  in  South 
Carolina  it  is  1.54  per  thousand.  In  Illinois  it  is 
7.926  per  thousand,  while  in  North  Carolina  it  is 
2.893  Per  thousand.  In  Kansas  it  is  6.115  per  thou 
sand,  while  in  Virginia  it  is  2.546  per  thousand;  and 
before  I  leave  this  subject  I  desire  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  figures  which  I  have  cited  show 
that  the  percentage  of  white  as  well  as  black 
criminals  is  less  in  the  South  than  in  the  North,  and 
that  in  Mississippi  it  is  lower  than  in  any  other  State 
given. 

The  six  Southern  States  selected  have  been  chosen 
because  of  the  fact  that  their  recent  constitutions 
have  limited  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  Northern 
States  are  those  that  possess  any  considerable  negro 
population. 

Now,  from  all  these  facts  the  deduction  which 
comes  to  my  mind  conclusively  and  irresistibly  is  that, 
while  you  feed  the  negro  upon  the  abstraction  of 
equal  social  and  political  rights,  you  deny  him  the 
substantial  right  to  earn  his  bread  in  the  station  and 
in  the  avocations  for  which  he  is  by  nature  and 
training  fitted. 

You  deny  him  the  bread  of  existence  and  tender 
him  the  stone  of  participation  in  political  affairs. 
He  asks  for  fish  in  the  shape  of  the  right  to  labor 
and  pursue  happiness,  you  give  him  instead  the  ser 
pent  of  racial  equality  and  intercourse.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  deny  him  that  intercourse  with  the  white 
race  which  can  have  but  one  result — viz.,  an  irre- 
conciliable  and  never-ending  conflict  between  the 
races — but  we  open  to  him,  freely  and  without  re 
striction,  every  avenue  of  labor  and  every  oppor- 


260  Oratory  of  the  South 

tunity  to  improve  his  condition  by  honest  and  legiti 
mate  toil. 

If  the  past  is  any  indication  of  the  future,  then  so 
surely  as  the  night  follows  the  day  our  theory  is 
right  and  yours  wrong.  More  than  a  decade  of 
negro  denomination  and  misrule  has  taught  us  in 
that  severest  but  most  valuable  of  schools — expe 
rience — that  he  is  not  fitted  for  government,  and 
should  therefore,  so  far  as  possible  within  the  con 
stitutional  limits,  be  eliminated  as  a  political  factor, 
and,  speaking  for  myself,  I  thank  God  that  the  con 
stitutional  convention  of  Mississippi  "swept  the 
circle  of  expedients,  within  the  field  of  permissible 
action  under  the  limitations  of  the  Federal  Consti 
tution,  to  obstruct  the  exercise  of  the  franchise  by 
the  negro  race." 

That  we  have  not  exceeded  the  limits  of  "per 
missible  action  within  the  Constitution"  the  highest 
tribunal  in  this  land  has  declared,  and  the  peace  and 
prosperity  that  we  have  enjoyed  since  the  adoption 
of  that  constitution,  the  increased  tranquillity  and 
contentment  abiding  with  both  races,  the  influx  of 
capital,  and  the  rapid  development  which  follows 
the  settlement  of  any  vexed  question  which  threatens 
to  disturb  the  peace  and  internal  quietude  of  a  State, 
have  all  been  ours. 

The  restriction  of  suffrage  in  Mississippi  was  the 
wisest  statesmanship  ever  exhibited  in  that  proud 
Commonwealth,  and  its  results  have  been  more  benefi 
cent  and  far-reaching  than  even  that  great  states 
man,  Senator  George,  to  whom  more  than  to  any 
other  one  man  is  due  this  great  reform,  with  his  far- 
seeing  eye  predicted.  We  have  disfranchised  not 
only  the  ignorant  and  vicious  black,  but  the  ignorant 
and  vicious  white  as  well,  and  the  electorate  in  Mis 
sissippi  is  now  confined  to  those,  and  to  those  alone, 
who  are  qualified  by  intelligence  and  character  for 


Eaton  J.  Bowers  261 

the  proper  and  patriotic  exercise  of  this  great  fran 
chise. 

I  cannot  believe,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  mass  of 
the  people  in  the  North  look  at  this  matter  as  the 
gentlemen  from  Massachusetts  and  Kansas  do.  I 
believe  that  there  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  great 
and  growing  sentiment — a  sentiment  gaining  daily  in 
volume  and  force — that  the  South  is  grappling  with 
this  question  in  an  intelligent  and  patriotic  way; 
that  by  reason  of  our  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
negro  race  and  its  characteristics  we  are  better  quali 
fied  to  solve  it  than  our  brethren  of  the  North;  and 
I  furthermore  believe  that  the  overwhelming  dis 
position  of  the  North  now  is  to  let  the  South  solve 
this  question  alone,  without  any  interference  from 
those  who  are  less  familiar  with  the  conditions  and 
embarrassments  than  we  are.  I  would  not  for  the 
world  do  anything  which  would  retard  or  in  the 
least  disturb  this  wholesome  sentiment. 

I  have  entered  into  this  discussion  with  some  reluc 
tance,  but  without  fear.  I  have  been  reluctant  not 
because  of  any  want  of  confidence  in  my  position,  but 
because  of  an  indefinable  dread  that  by  some  impru 
dent  word  I  might  retard  the  growth  of  the  senti 
ment  and  the  idea  to  which  I  have  just  alluded,  and 
which  I  believe  to  be  absolutely  indispensable  to  the 
correct  and  proper  solution  of  the  question.  I  have 
attempted  to  speak  with  temperance  and  prudence. 
Following  the  example  of  the  gentleman  from  Mas 
sachusetts,  I  have  repressed  much  that  I  feel.  I 
know  that  I  have  spoken  the  truth. 


262  Oratory  of  the  South 

AGAINST  THE  ENLISTMENT  OF  NEGRO 
SOLDIERS 

JAMES  L.  SLAYDEN 
Congressman  from  Texas 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  January  8,  1907.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present 
session  I  submitted  a  bill  to  amend  the  military  laws 
so  that  after  July  i,  1907,  there  would  be  no 
negro  regiments  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States. 

For  a  long  time  I  have  looked  upon  it  as  a  desirable 
military  reform.  Recent  events  of  a  startling  and 
deplorable  nature  have  convinced  me  that  it  is  urgent. 
It  cannot  be  delayed,  I  apprehend,  without  risking 
a  collision  between  white  citizens  and  negro  troops. 
There  is  reason  to  fear  that  occasional  assassina 
tion  and  riot  may  be  succeeded  by  disasters  that  will 
measure  up  to  the  standard  of  battle.  Firmly  believ 
ing  that,  as  I  did,  I  regarded  it  as  a  duty  to  try  to 
prevent  such  a  condition  by  amending  the  law.  A 
series  of  violent  outbreaks  on  the  part  of  negro  sol 
diers,  culminating  in  a  murderous  assault  on  the  un 
offending  citizens  of  Brownsville,  decided  me  to  offer 
the  bill  without  further  delay.  The  bill  was  not 
offered  for  buncombe.  I  proposed  it  because  I  am 
absolutely  convinced  that  it  is  a  measure  of  reform 
which  must  ultimately  commend  itself  to  the  judg 
ment  of  the  American  Congress.  I  very  much  regret 
to  say,  however,  that  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any 
immediate  prospect  of  success.  Like  many  good  leg 
islative  suggestions,  it  will  probably  have  to  die  the 
death  many  times  before  the  mind  and  conscience  of 
a  majority  can  be  awakened.  The  lack  of  active 
sympathy  for  my  measure  among  such  of  my  Re 
publican  colleagues  as  I  have  spoken  to  about  it 


James  L.  Slay  den  263 

makes  me  realize  that  I  am  not  apt  to  have  an  oppor 
tunity  to  discuss  the  bill  as  pending  before  the  House, 
and  so,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  shall  avail  myself  of  this 
occasion  to  speak  of  it. 

In  the  history  of  the  negro  troops  of  the  United 
States  one  finds  many  chapters  that  tell  of  violent 
breaches  of  discipline,  of  riotous  and  mutinous  con 
duct,  of  murder  and  race  hostility.  All  these  are 
to  be  found  in  the  cold,  formal,  official  reports  filed 
in  the  Department  of  War.  These  reports  are  not 
written  with  any  consideration  of  the  great  politico- 
social  question  on  which  they  have  an  important  bear 
ing,  but  it  takes  no  very  alert  student  to  find  the  race 
question  running  all  through  them.  As  a  rule,  offi 
cial  reports  are  lacking  in  vitality,  but  these,  when 
they  touch  even  remotely  the  great  hopeless  and  in 
soluble  question — and  if  any  question  about  the 
affairs  of  men  is  hopeless  and  insoluble  this  is — that 
confronts  a  large  section  of  the  country,  throb  and 
vibrate  with  human  interest. 

In  declaring  their  unfitness  to  be  American  soldiers 
I  have  in  view  only  the  circumstances  of  their  ser 
vice.  I  do  not  impeach  their  physical  courage. 
That  is  a  virtue  that  belongs  to  nearly  all  men,  and 
if  there  is  any  difference  between  savage  and  civil 
ized  man  in  this  respect,  it  possibly  lies  with  the 
savage,  who  is  undeterred  from  rash  ventures  by 
thought  of  the  consequences. 

But  courage  is  only  one  of  the  qualities  required  in 
a  good  soldier.  There  should  be  between  him  and  the 
people  whose  uniform  he  wears  perfect  sympathy 
and  a  common  aspiration.  This  sympathy,  this  as 
piration,  does  not  exist  between  the  blacks  and  whites, 
and  in  the  very  nature  of  things  can  never  exist.  It 
is  prevented  by  basic  and  unalterable  differences. 

It  is  not  my  duty,  nor  is  this  the  time  or  place, 
to  explain,  justify,  or  condemn  the  feeling.  I 


264  Oratory  of  the  South 

merely  assert  as  a  fact  that  mutual  race  antipathy 
does  exist,  that  its  existence  has  been  recognized  by 
students  of  the  question  who  have  considered  it  on  a 
plane  far  above  partisan  politics,  and  that  it 
is  folly  to  ignore  it  in  our  legislation.  If  we  persist 
in  the  folly,  we  will  surely  end  in  disaster. 

This  deep-seated  and  ineradicable  race  hostility, 
which  grows  daily  more  acute,  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
United  States.  Although  dormant  when  apart,  it  is 
unfailingly  developed  everywhere  by  contact  and 
competition.  It  has  written  tragic  chapters  into  the 
history  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe.  The  Moors 
were  as  unwelcome  to  the  people  of  the  Spanish 
Peninsula  as  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  are  to  our 
fellow-citizens  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  it  will  not 
do  to  dismiss  the  Pacific  coast  race  question  by  say 
ing  that  the  objection  to  Asiatic  immigration  in  Cali 
fornia  is  only  from  the  hoodlum  element.  It  runs 
through  all  classes  of  society. 

A  few  days  ago  I  read  in  the  Washington  Herald 
a  statement  made  by  a  retired  officer  of  the  British 
army  who,  although  he  spoke  guardedly,  as  becomes 
a  visitor  to  the  country,  did  not  conceal  his  surprise 
at  the  fact  that  black  soldiers  are  kept  in  our  Army 
for  service  in  times  of  peace.  He  said  that  Great 
Britain,  even  under  the  stress  of  war  and  in  the  face 
of  repeated  disasters,  did  not  employ  them  against 
the  Boers  in  South  Africa.  He  assigned  as  a  reason 
for  the  British  policy  the  admitted  prejudice,  mutu 
ally  entertained,  of  the  races.  I  mention  this,  Mr. 
Chairman,  to  show  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  not  peculiar  in  this  respect.  I  say  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  instead  of  the  people  of 
the  South,  because  of  comparatively  recent  events 
which  show  that  this  prejudice  does  not  stop  at 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Lynchings  are  a  disgrace, 
I  admit,  and  they  should  be  made  impossible  by  the 


James  L.  Slayden  2G5 

enactment  of  such  intelligent  laws  and  by  such 
prompt  and  rigid  enforcement  of  them  that  no  man's 
thoughts  would  ever  turn  in  that  direction  for  the 
punishment  of  crime.  But  they  are  not  peculiar  to 
the  South.  They  are  only  more  frequent  there  be 
cause  of  multiplied  instances  of  crime  of  a  frightful 
sort.  Even  Springfield,  Ohio,  if  the  press  and  that 
entertaining  essayist,  Ray  Stannard  Baker,  tell  the 
truth,  has  on  occasions  resorted  to  lynching.  And 
strangely  enough  the  mob  spirit  was  largely  directed 
by  race  prejudice.  The  lynching  of  a  negro  criminal 
at  Springfield  in  March,  1904,  was  followed  by  a 
very  carnival  of  crime  directed  at  the  black  inhabi 
tants  of  that  city.  Not  only  was  there  evidence  of 
prejudice  against  the  particular  criminals,  but  it 
seemed  to  have  been  directed  against  the  whole  negro 
race.  They  were  hunted  out  of  their  homes  and 
their  property  destroyed  by  fire.  Danville,  Illinois, 
was  also  the  scene  of  a  manifestation  of  race  preju 
dice,  which  the  writer  says  is  growing  with  the  growth 
of  the  negro  population.  It  would  not  be  difficult 
to  multiply  these  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  the 
race  prejudice  which  exists  in  the  South,  and  which 
we  admit,  is  also  to  be  found  in  the  North,  but 
usually  denied.  The  newspapers  give  us  over 
whelming  evidence  of  it  every  day. 

As  I  have  already  said,  I  fear  that  we  have  not 
yet  reached  the  stage  where  we  will  legislate  on  this 
matter  intelligently  and  for  conditions  as  we  find 
them.  But  we  will  reach  it  by  and  by. 

After  a  few  incidents  like  those  at  Fort  Meade, 
San  Carlos,  El  Paso,  and  Brownsville,  Congress  will 
be  really  aroused  to  a  discharge  of  its  duty  in  this 
matter.  Repeat  the  Brownsville  affair  with  a  change 
of  locus — let  it  occur  in  Michigan,  New  York,  or 
Illinois — and  a  new  light  will  be  seen.  Until  then 
we  will  be  as  patient  as  possible,  having  faith  that 


266  Oratory  of  the  South 

finally  the  sympathy  of  the  whole  country  will  be 
given  to  that  section  which  has  been  so  tried  in  the 
school  of  disaster,  a  section  which  stands  face  to  face 
with  the  perplexities  and  dangers  of  the  most  diffi 
cult  question  any  people  on  earth  were  ever  called 
on  to  meet  and  solve.  When  all  the  States  com 
prehended  this  question,  which  now  they  barely  ap 
prehend,  they  will  help  us  of  the  South  to  make  it 
certain  that  the  homes  of  white  men  in  a  white  man's 
country  will  be  protected  by  white  men  only. 


THE    FIFTEENTH    AMENDMENT 

* 

ALLEN  CAPERTON  BRAXTON 
Of  the  Richmond  (Va.)  Bar 

[Extract  from  a  speech  in  response  to  the  toast,  "George 
Washington,"  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  York 
Southern  Society,  February  21,  1903.] 

After  grim-visaged  war  had  closed  his  crimson 
testament,  but  not  yet  smoothed  his  wrinkled  front, 
while  the  tempestuous  waves  of  public  passion  were 
still  tossing  the  ship  of  state  about,  in  a  moment  of 
infatuation  and  thoughtless  folly,  in  an  evil  hour,  by 
the  combined  agencies  of  fraud  and  force,  the  Fif 
teenth  Amendment  was  added  to  our  Federal  Con 
stitution,  thus  carrying  us  as  far  beyond  right  and 
reason,  in  one  direction,  as  slavery  had  taken  us  in  the 
other. 

No  white  man  believes  in  the  Fifteenth  Amend 
ment,  save  as  a  theory  to  be  applied  to  some  other 
man's  case.  The  loudest  advocates  of  its  applica 
tion  to  the  South  stood  aghast  when  they  met  it  face 
to  face  in  the  City  of  Washington,  in  the  State  of 
California,  and  in  our  new  insular  possessions.  It 
is  wrong  in  principle,  it  is  impossible  of  enforcement 


Allen  Caperton  Braxton  267 

where  the  inferior  race  is  numerous,  it  is  demoral 
izing  to  the  negro,  it  is  corrupting  to  the  white  man ; 
to  abandon  that  ignorant  and  helpless  race  to  their 
own  devices  and  control  would  be  the  greatest 
cruelty;  to  set  them  up  as  rulers  over  the  race  that 
produced  Washington  and  Lee  would  be  a  crime 
against  nature  and  a  sin  against  God! 

It  is  said  that  "unsettled  questions  have  no  pity 
for  the  repose  of  mankind,"  and,  as  surely  as  the 
eternal  principles  of  right  and  reason  are  destined 
ultimately  to  prevail,  just  so  sure  am  I  that  the  stu 
pendous'  folly  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  long 
since  condemned  by  Abraham  Lincoln  himself,  will 
yet  be  rectified  by  the  great  voice  of  the  American 
people ! 

No  sooner  had  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  been 
proclaimed  than  the  negroes  banded  themselves  to 
gether  in  a  solid  impenetrable  mass;  and,  true  to 
the  instincts  of  their  race,  voluntarily  submitted 
themselves  to  a  political  bondage  as  complete  as  that 
from  which,  without  any  effort  of  their  own,  they 
had  recently  been  liberated.  This  black  phalanx, 
officered  by  the  worst  elements  in  the  community  and 
manned  by  their  blind,  unreasoning  and  thought 
less  followers,  whom  they  herded  to  and  from  the 
polls  "like  dumb,  driven  cattle,"  soon  became  a 
menace  to  the  very  civilization  of  the  country.  The 
necessary  and  inevitable  consequence  of  this  hope 
less  consolidation  of  the  negro  vote  was  the  creation, 
in  the  South,  of  a  white  man's  party  and  a  black 
man's  party,  which  single  issue,  of  white  or  black 
rule,  was  so  immediate,  so  absolutely  vital,  so  utterly 
overwhelming  in  its  consequences,  that  it  simply 
obliterated  all  others. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  persistent  refusal  of  the 
negroes  to  accept  political  freedom  forced  the  whites 
to  abandon  it  and  to  blindly  follow  the  white  man's 


268  Oratory  of  the  South 

party  regardless  of  any  and  all  political  heresies  by 
which,  for  the  time,  it  might  be  dominated. 

In  obtaining  recruits  among  Southern  white  men, 
what  inducement  could  any  political  party  offer  that 
was  comparable  to  sympathy  and  support  in  their 
struggle  against  the  black  peril  at  their  doors!  It 
was  as  if  a  man  facing  in  deadly  encounter  some 
terrible  and  ferocious  animal,  should  be  offered  by 
one  friend  a  tip  on  the  stock  market  and  by  another 
a  weapon  with  which  to  defend  himself.  Could  he 
hesitate  which  offer  to  accept?  Would  he  insist  that 
the  man  offering  him  the  gun  should  first  satisfy  him 
that  his  views  on  finance  were  sound?  Such  was  the 
condition  of  the  Southern  people,  and  such  was  the 
reason  why  the  "Solid  South"  was  solid. 

When  God  in  his  wrath  saw  fit  to  banish  us  into 
the  wilderness  with  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  he 
still  in  his  mercy  left  a  difficult,  narrow  but  safe 
path  by  which  we  might,  after  much  striving  and 
tribulation,  even  yet  achieve  salvation  and  regain 
the  Promised  Land.  Mr.  Chairman,  the  Southern 
people  have  struck  that  trail!  They  have  reached 
Mount  Pisgah,  and  are  now  with  rejoicing  and  grati 
tude  to  God  gazing  once  more  into  the  happy  land 
of  Canaan! 

One  by  one  the  Southern  States,  compelled  at  last 
to  relinquish  the  principle  of  free  manhood  suffrage 
so  dear  to  them  (but  which  they,  like  the  citizens 
of  Washington,  gladly  exchange  for  immunity  from 
negro  domination),  have  availed  themselves  of  the 
expedients  which  have  been  found  and  authoritatively 
declared  to  be  permissible  under  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment,  and  placed  such  restrictions  upon  suf 
frage,  irrespective  of  race  or  color,  that  the  vast  sea 
of  ignorant,  venal,  and  vicious  negroes  is  now  safely 
and  perpetually  shut  out. 

We  have  legislated  as  far  as  we  could  against  the 


William  H.  Fleming  269 

negro's  defects  and  bad  qualities  rather  than  against 
his  color  or  his  race.  The  details  of  the  methods 
adopted  vary  with  the  several  States;  but  in  sub 
stance  the  remedy  is  everywhere  the  same,  and  con 
sists  in  requiring  something  more  of  a  voter  than 
merely  twenty-one  years  of  innocuous  existence. 

The  negro  vote  has  not  been  entirely  eliminated 
in  the  South,  but,  by  permitting  only  those  to  vote 
who  can  be  entrusted  with  the  ballot  without  too 
great  peril  to  the  State,  that  vote  has  been  reduced 
far  below  the  danger  point;  and  thus  one-third  of 
the  fairest  and  richest  domain  of  this  great  nation 
has  been  saved  from  the  threatened  possibility  of 
becoming,  like  another  Hayti,  the  permanent  home 
of  anarchy  and  barbarism. 

The  present  condition  having  been  brought  about 
by  our  new  suffrage  laws,  peace  and  good-will 
between  the  races  are  rapidly  increasing,  and  the 
white  men  of  the  South  may  now  divide,  and  are 
dividing,  upon  the  live  economic  issues  of  the  day. 
The  great  body  of  the  hitherto  deluded  and  much 
exploited  negroes  are  now  beginning  to  see  who  are 
their  real  friends;  they  are  realizing  that  the  in 
terests  of  their  white  neighbors  and  their  own  are 
identical,  and  that,  after  all,  the  white  man's  gov 
ernment  is  far  best  for  both  races. 


THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  RACE  PROBLEM 

WILLIAM  H.  FLEMING 
Of  the  Augusta  (Ga.)  Bar 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Alumni 
Society  of  the  State  University  of  Georgia,  Athens,  June  19, 
1906.] 

In  seeking  a  solution  of  any  difficult  problem  the 
first  step  should  be  to  eliminate  the  impossible 


270  Oratory  of  the  South 

schemes  proposed,  and  then  concentrate  on  some  line 
of  operation  that  is  at  least  possible.  We  often  hear 
the  epigrammatic  dictum  that  there  are  but  three  pos 
sible  solutions  of  our  race  problem :  deportation, 
assimilation,  or  annihilation.  When  we  bring  our 
sober  senses  to  bear,  all  three  of  these  so-called  pos 
sibilities  appear  to  be  practical  impossibilities.  Not 
one  of  the  three  presents  a  working  hypothesis. 
Physical  facts  alone  prevent  deportation.  Physical 
facts,  stressed  by  an  ineradicable  race  pride,  bar  the 
way  against  assimilation.  Physical  facts  backed  by 
our  religion,  our  civilization,  our  very  selves,  forbid 
annihilation.  We  cannot  imitate  Herod. 

This  much  seems  clear  beyond  doubt,  that  the 
whites  are  going  to  stay  in  this  Southland  for  all 
time,  and  so  are  the  negroes  going  to  stay  here,  in 
greater  or  less  proportions,  for  generations  to  come. 
If,  then,  both  races  are  to  remain  together,  the 
plainly  sensible  thing  for  statesmen  of  this  day  to 
do  is  to  devise  the  best  modus  vivendi  or  working 
plan  by  which  the  greatest  good  can  be  accomplished 
for  ourselves  and  our  posterity.  We  of  this  day 
are  not  expected  to  overload  ourselves  with  the 
burden  of  settling  all  the  problems  of  all  future  ages. 
If  we  take  good  care  of  the  next  few  centuries,  we 
may  well  be  content  to  leave  some  matters  to  be  at 
tended  to  by  our  remote  posterity — aided,  of  course, 
by  Providence. 

Over  against  that  trinity  of  impossibilities — de 
portation,  assimilation,  or  annihilation — let  us  offer 
the  simple  plan  of  justice. 

The  first  and  absolutely  essential  factor  in  any 
working  hypothesis  at  the  South  so  far  as  human 
ken  can  now  foresee,  is  white  supremacy — supremacy 
arising  from  present  natural  superiority,  but  based 
always  on  justice  to  the  negro. 

Those  whose  stock  in  trade  is  "hating  the  nigger" 


William  H.  Fleming  271 

may  easily  gain  some  temporary  advantage  for  them 
selves  in  our  white  primaries,  where  it  requires  no 
courage  either  physical  or  moral  to  strike  those  who 
have  no  power  to  strike  back — not  even  with  a  paper 
ballot.  But  these  men  will  achieve  nothing  per 
manent  for  the  good  of  the  State  or  of  the  nation  by 
stirring  up  race  passion  and  prejudice.  Injustice 
and  persecution  will  not  solve  any  of  the  problems  of 
the  ages.  God  did  not  so  ordain  His  universe. 

Justly  proud  of  our  race,  we  refuse  to  amalgamate 
with  the  negro.  Nevertheless,  the  negro  is  a  human 
being,  under  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  and  conse 
quently  within  the  Brotherhood  of  Man — for  those 
two  relations  are  inseparably  joined  together.  All 
soul-possessing  creatures  must  be  sons  of  God  and 
joint  heirs  of  immortality. 

Moreover,  the  negro  is  an  American  citizen,  and 
is  protected  as  such  by  guarantees  of  the  Constitu 
tion  that  are  as  irrepealable  almost  as  the  Bill  of 
Rights  itself.  Nor  if  such  a  thing  as  repealing  these 
guarantees  were  possible,  would  it  be  wise  for  the 
South.  Suppose  we  admit  the  oft  reiterated  proposi 
tion  that  no  two  races  so  distinct  as  the  Caucasian 
and  the  negro  can  live  together  on  terms  of  perfect 
equality;  yet  it  is  equally  true  that  without  some 
access  to  the  ballot,  present  or  prospective,  some  par 
ticipation  in  the  government,  no  inferior  race  in  an 
elective  republic  could  long  protect  itself  against 
reduction  to  slavery  in  many  of  its  substantial  forms 
— and  God  knows  the  South  wants  no  more  of  that 
curse. 

We  have  long  passed  the  crisis  of  the  disease 
brought  on  by  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  blood 
of  the  republic.  Let  us  now  build  up  the  body 
politic  in  health  and  strength,  and  guard  it  against 
ever  again  being  inoculated  with  a  poison  even  re 
motely  resembling  that  deadly  virus.  Sporadic  cases 


272  Oratory  of  the  South 

of  peonage  have  already  developed  in  several  States 
and  have  been  suppressed.  Let  us  provide  against 
every  appearance  of  contagion. 

One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  about  the  solu 
tion  of  our  problem  is  to  be  found  in  getting  the 
dominant  whites  of  the  South  to  draw  a  proper  dis 
crimination  between  a  laudable  pride  in  our  race  and 
an  unworthy  prejudice  against  the  negro  race. 
Prejudice  of  any  sort  is  hostile  to  that  sound  judgment 
which  the  Creator  gave  us  for  our  guide.  Race  preju 
dice  presents  this  disturbing  element  in  one  of  its  most 
unreasoning  forms.  In  violence  it  ranks  next  to  re 
ligious  fanaticism.  The  one  is  based  on  a  supposed 
duty  to  God;  the  other  on  a  supposed  duty  to  one's 
race-blood.  The  deeper  this  sense  of  duty,  the  more 
hardened  the  mind  against  every  appeal  to  reason. 
In  persecuting  the  early  Christians,  Paul  thought  he 
was  doing  his  duty  to  God.  The  men  who  hanged 
the  witches  in  New  England  thought  they  were  doing 
their  duty. 

In  calmly  considering  now  the  situation  that  con 
fronted  our  statesmen  of  the  ante-bellum  period,  that 
which  most  astounds  us  is  their  apparent  failure  to 
foresee  what  would  have  been  the  inevitable  conse 
quence  of  an  indefinite  continuance  of  slavery  in  its 
effect  on  race  purity  and  on  relative  race  numbers. 
The  ratio  of  increase  of  the  negroes  was  far  in  excess 
of  the  whites.  The  great  laboring  middle  class, 
which  forms  the  backbone  of  every  nation's  pluck 
and  power,  was  fast  migrating  westward,  and  the 
remaining  population  was  rapidly  crystallizing  into 
an  upper  class  of  white  slave  holders  and  a  lower 
class  of  negro  slaves — the  latter  outmultiplying  their 
masters  in  numbers.  Another  one  hundred  years  of 
slavery  would  in  all  probability  have  doomed  the 
South  to  absolute  negro  domination  by  mere  weight 
of  numbers  whenever  emancipation  should  come — 


William  H.  Fleming  273 

and  come  it  was  sure  to  do  at  some  time  in  the  evolu 
tion  of  the  elemental  forces  that  were  at  work. 

When  a  subject  people  in  the  hard  school  of  ex 
perience  gradually  assert  themselves  and  evolve  from 
within  the  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  forces  that 
achieve  their  freedom,  as  did  the  Anglo-Saxons  from 
under  the  yoke  of  their  Norman  conquerors,  they 
come  forth  by  natural  growth  prepared  for  the  duties 
and   responsibilities    of   self-government.      But   the 
negro  as  a  race  had  undergone  no  such  process  of  evo 
lution.     His  transportation  from  Africa  to  America 
and  his  transition  from  slavery  to  freedom  were  both 
the  result  of  external  impositions  and  not  of  internal 
development.     The  power  came  from  without,  not 
from  within.     He  did  not  win  his  freedom.     It  was 
bestowed  upon  him.    Granting  that  he  is  only  a  back 
ward  member  of  the  great  human  family,  which,  as 
most  evolutionists  and  Christians  believe,  is  moving 
steadily  on  toward  the  distant  goal  of  millennial  per 
fection,  yet  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  negro  race 
was  suddenly  projected  forward  into  a  stage  of  civili 
zation  many  generations  in  advance  of  its  own  natural 
development. 

It  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  the  negro  as  a  race 
should  not  be  altogether  fitted  to  the  laws  and  cus 
toms  and  political  institutions  of  those  among  whom 
his  lot  was  cast? 

We  do  not  know  what  shifting  phases  this  vexing 
race  problem  may  assume,  but  we  may  rest  in  the  con 
viction  that  its  ultimate  solution  must  be  reached  by 
proceeding  along  the  lines  of  honesty  and  justice. 
Let  us  not  in  cowardice  or  in  want  of  faith  needlessly 
sacrifice  our  higher  ideals  of  private  and  public  life. 
Race  differences  may  necessitate  social  distinctions. 
But  race  differences  cannot  repeal  the  moral  law. 
The  foundation  of  the  moral  law  is  justice.  Let 
us  solve  the  negro  problem  by  giving  the  negro 

18 


274  Oratory  of  the  South 

justice  and  applying  to  him  the  recognized  principles 
of  the  moral  law. 

This  does  not  require  social  equality.  It  does 
not  require  that  we  should  surrender  into  his  inex 
perienced  and  incompetent  hands  the  reins  of  poli 
tical  government.  But  it  does  require  that  we 
recognize  his  fundamental  rights  as  a  man,  and  that 
we  judge  each  individual  according  to  his  own  quali 
fications  and  not  according  to  the  lower  average 
characteristics  of  his  race.  Political  rights  cannot 
justly  be  withheld  from  those  American  citizens  of 
an  inferior  or  backward  race  who  raise  themselves 
up  to  the  standard  of  citizenship  which  the  superior 
race  applies  to  its  own  members. 

It  is  true  that  the  right  of  suffrage  is  not  one  of 
those  inalienable  rights  of  man,  like  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,  as  enumerated  in  the  Dec 
laration  of  Independence;  but  the  right  of  exemp 
tion  from  discrimination  in  the  exercise  of  suffrage 
on  account  of  race  is  one  of  the  guaranteed  constitu 
tional  rights  of  all  American  citizens. 

We  of  the  South  are  an  integral  part  of  this  great 
country.  We  should  stand  ready  to  make  every 
sacrifice  demanded  by  honor  and  permitted  by  wis 
dom  to  remove  the  last  vestige  of  an  excuse  for  the 
perpetuation  of  that  spirit  of  sectionalism  which  ex 
cludes  us  from  the  full  participation  in  governmental 
honors  to  which  our  brain  and  character  entitle  us. 

We  cannot  afford  to  sacrifice  our  ideals  of  justice, 
of  law,  and  of  religion  for  the  purpose  of  preventing 
the  negro  from  elevating  himself.  If  we  wish  to 
preserve  the  wide  gap  between  our  race  and  his  in 
the  onward  progress  of  civilization,  let  us  do  it  by 
lifting  ourselves  up,  not  by  holding  him  down.  If, 
as  some  predict,  the  negro  in  the  distant  future 
must  fail  and  fall  by  the  wayside  in  the  strenuous 
march  of  the  nations,  let  him  fall  by  his  own  in- 


William  H.  Fleming  275 

feriority,  and  not  by  our  tyranny.  Give  him  a  fair 
chance  to  work  out  what  is  in  him. 

If  the  negroes  as  a  race  are  to  be  disfranchised 
regardless  of  the  personal  qualifications  of  merito 
rious  individual  members  of  that  race,  consider  for  a 
moment  some  of  the  changes  we  must  make  in  many 
of  the  fundamental  doctrines  lying  at  the  base  of 
our  government.  The  revised  version  of  our  politi 
cal  Bible  would  have  to  read  something  like  this: 
"No  taxation  without  representation — except  as  to 
negroes;"  "equal  rights  to  all — except  as  to  ne 
groes;"  "all  men  are  created  equal — except  as  to 
negroes." 

Some  modern  critics  seriously  suggest  that  we 
should  amend  that  paragraph  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  which  asserts  the  equal  rights  of  men, 
so  as  to  adjust  it  more  accurately  to  historical  and 
scientific  facts.  But  that  epoch-making  document 
needs  no  alteration  upon  the  subject  of  human  rights 
when  interpreted  as  it  was  intended  to  be  interpreted 
by  the  man  who  drafted  it.  Mark  you,  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  did  not  write:  "All  men  are  born  free,"  as 
the  quotation  is  sometimes  given.  That  looser  lan 
guage  is  found  in  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts, 
not  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Such  an 
assertion  would  have  been  disproved  by  the  historical 
fact  of  slavery  then  existing.  What  Mr.  Jefferson 
wrote  was,  "All  men  arc  created  equal."  That  is 
to  say,  not  equal  in  exterior  circumstances,  nor  in 
physical  or  mental  attributes,  but  equal  in  the  sight 
of  God  and  just  human  law,  in  their  inalienable 
rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
Americans  want  no  recantation  of  that  declaration. 
It  is  the  political  corollary  of  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  justice  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Let  it 
stand  as  it  was  penned  by  Jefferson,  an  ennobling, 
even  though  unattainable,  ideal  demanded  by  the 


276  Oratory  of  the  South 

spiritual  nature  of  man — one  of  those  ideals  that 
have  done  more  to  lift  up  humanity  and  to  build  up 
civilization  than  all  the  gold  from  all  the  mines  of 
all  the  world. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUTH 

EZEKIEL  S.  CANDLER 
Congressman  from  Mississippi 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  January  25,  1907.] 

It  is  a  source  of  gratification  and  pleasure  to  us 
in  the  South  that  the  agriculturist  is  coming  to  his 
own  once  more.  I  am  glad  to  see  him  taking  an 
interest  in  his  own  affairs  and  fixing,  to  a  certain 
extent  at  least,  the  price  of  the  product  that  he  toils 
to  produce,  and  not  leaving  it  to  Wall  Street  or  to 
the  stock  gamblers,  the  cotton  gamblers,  the  wheat 
gamblers,  and  to  the  gamblers  in  "futures"  to  fix  the 
price  of  his  product  and  say  he  shall  take  that,  with 
out  any  regard  to  its  actual  and  intrinsic  value. 

It  is  a  source  of  gratification  that  they  are  standing 
together,  saying  to  the  people  of  this  country  and 
saying  to  the  people  of  foreign  countries  that  we 
purpose  to  fix  the  price  of  our  products,  and  if  you 
want  them  at  that  price  you  can  buy  them  if  you 
have  the  money,  and  if  you  do  not  want  them  we 
are  able  to  take  care  of  them  and  able  to  keep  them ; 
we  will  build  warehouses  in  which  to  protect  our 
products  from  the  storms  and  weather  and  preserve 
them  for  future  sale.  I  hope  they  will  continue  to 
stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  man  to  man,  for  their 
own  protection  and  their  own  welfare.  Before  they 
took  this  position  we  sold  the  cotton  crop  of  1900 
for  $387,000,000.  Now,  with  the  farmers  stand 
ing  together,  we  sold  it  last  year  for  $667,000,000. 


Ezekiel  S.  Candler  277 

By  reason  of  this  action  on  their  part,  fixing  the  price 
of  their  own  product  and  not  leaving  it  to  the  grain 
gamblers  and  the  cotton  gamblers  and  gamblers  in 
futures  to  say  what  it  shall  be,  they  raised  the  price 
of  that  product  nearly  $300,000,000  and  brought 
prosperity  to  that  section  of  the  country,  and  in  that 
way  brought  prosperity  to  every  section  of  the  coun 
try,  because  the  prosperity  of  one  section  is  the  pros 
perity  of  them  all. 

What  has  done  more  to  sustain  the  gold  standard 
than  any  other  one  thing  is  the  cotton  crop,  which 
is  exported  to  foreigners  and  brings  gold  to  our  coun 
try.  Last  year  more  than  a  million  dollars  of  cotton 
each  day,  Sundays  and  holidays  included,  was  ex 
ported  to  foreign  countries  and  sold  for  gold.  To 
be  entirely  accurate,  last  year  $401,000,000  worth 
of  cotton  was  exported  and  sold  and  brought  that 
amount  of  gold  to  the  United  States  in  exchange 
for  that  product,  which  was  produced  in  the  South 
land. 

Cotton  is  the  great  leveler  in  commercial  and  in 
ternational  exchange;  and  when  I  say  that  I  speak 
advisedly,  because  that  which  can  control  the  markets 
of  the  world  as  to  money  must,  to  a  certain  extent, 
control  the  destinies  of  the  country  and  become  a 
great  leveler  in  the  transactions  between  those  coun 
tries. 

I  want  to  tell  you  that  it  is  a  fact  that  the  cotton 
production  in  the  last  five  years  has  amounted  to 
more  in  dollars  and  cents  than  the  total  world's 
production  of  gold  and  silver  both  combined. 
Listen !  In  the  last  five  years  the  total  value  of  the 
world's  gold  and  silver  production  was  $2,578,852,- 
ooo.  The  total  value  of  our  cotton  crop  in  the  last 
five  years  was  $2,974,000,000.  Therefore,  the  total 
production  of  cotton  in  five  years  has  amounted  to 
more  than  the  total  value  of  the  world's  production 


278  Oratory  of  the  South 

of  both  gold  and  silver  combined.  That  being  true, 
then  cotton  is  the  great  leveler  in  international  trade. 
We  say  that  cotton  is  king.  Some  people  say,  "No; 
iron  is  king."  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Carnegie  made 
the  remark  that  iron  is  king,  and  Mrs.  Carnegie 
promptly  replied,  "If  iron  is  king,  then  coal  is 
queen."  We  say  that  the  cotton  crop  is  the  king 
of  the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  we  do  not  admit 
anything  to  the  contrary;  but  admitting  for  the  sake 
of  argument  that  iron  is  king,  we  stand  in  just  as 
advantageous  a  position  in  reference  to  that  great 
product  as  we  do  in  reference  to  the  cotton. 

We  find  by  investigation  that  there  are  in  the 
Southland  to-day  62,500  square  miles  of  coal,  while 
in  England  and  Germany  combined  there  are  only 
12,000  square  miles  and  a  little  over.  So  within  the 
borders  of  the  Southland  we  have  not  only  more  coal 
land  than  both  Germany  and  England  combined,  but 
more  than  all  Europe  put  together.  So,  if  iron  is 
king  and  coal  is  queen,  how  does  the  country  stand 
that  possesses  unquestionably  that  which  is  king, 
namely,  King  Cotton,  and  then  possesses  a  majority 
of  the  iron  lands  of  this  country  and  a  majority  of 
the  coal  lands  of  this  country?  Having  the  two 
kings  and  the  queen  in  the  Southland,  we  ask  nothing 
of  anybody  else. 

One  other  thing,  and  then  I  shall  be  done.  The 
one  other  great  product  in  this  country  is  timber. 
And  do  you  know  that  to-day  more  than  half  of  the 
standing  timber  in  the  United  States  is  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line?  So  when  we  have  the 
cotton,  when  we  have  the  iron,  when  we  have  the 
coal,  and  when  we  have  the  timber,  all  within  that 
section  of  the  country,  no  wonder  that  prosperity  has 
perched  upon  our  banners;  no  wonder  that  we  are 
happy  and  rejoicing. 

Forty-five  years  ago  those  of  the  South  who  were 


Ezekiel  S.  Candler  279 

old  enough  to  be  away  from  home  were  engaged  in 
the  conflict  that  was  then  in  progress.  When  those 
men  returned  to  their  homes  they  found  devastation 
and  destruction  on  every  hand;  but  standing  brave, 
courageous,  and  noble  as  they  were,  asking  no  favors 
and  no  concessions,  the  only  thing  that  they  ever  have 
asked  and  the  only  thing  that  we  ask  now  is  that  we 
shall  be  permitted  to  work  out  our  own  salvation 
under  the  shining  canopy  of  God  Almighty's  heaven, 
trusting  to  Him  for  guidance,  protection,  support, 
and  comfort;  looking  to  Him  for  the  sunshine  and 
the  showers,  for  those  things  that  will  bring  from 
the  earth  the  production  which  will  yield  happiness, 
peace,  and  joy  to  our  people.  To-day  we  are  coming 
back  to  our  own.  We  are  reaching  the  point  where 
we  can  take  care  of  our  own  affairs  without  asking 
anything  from  anybody  anywhere.  Only  a  few 
years  ago  we  had  to  go  to  Wall  Street  or  to  some 
commercial  center,  to  some  great  banking  institution, 
to  obtain  the  money  with  which  to  transact  our  busi 
ness  ;  but  last  year  the  people  of  the  South  were  able 
to  market  their  own  cotton  without  asking  favor  from 
any  source,  without  asking  a  loan  from  anywhere; 
and  this  prosperity  that  has  come  over  the  South 
land  has  permeated  all  this  country  of  ours. 

William  D.  Kelley  said  years  ago  that  the  pros 
perity  of  the  South  was  the  prosperity  of  every  section 
of  the  country;  and  that  is  absolutely  true.  He 
looked  forward  to  this  day  and  saw  with  prophetic 
eye  that  the  time  would  come  back  again  when  the 
Southland  would  blossom  like  the  rose  and  when  joy 
and  happiness  would  be  round  about.  That  time 
has  come.  It  will  continue,  and  there  is  a  greater 
time  ahead  of  us  for  our  people,  if  they  will  care  for 
the  heritage  given  to  them  and  not  waste  it  or  fritter 
it  away.  We  have  stood  upon  the  chivalry  of  our 
manhood  and  the  purity  of  our  womanhood,  and 


280  Oratory  of  the  South 

upon  that  foundation  we  have  builded  a  superstruc 
ture  that  has  towered  heavenward  and  shines  in  the 
very  presence  of  God  above. 


AN  APPALACHIAN  FOREST  RESERVE 

JOSHUA  W.  CALDWELL 
Of  the  Knoxville  (Tenn.)  Bar 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  convention  of 
the  Appalachian  National  Park  Association,  at  Ashville, 
N.  C.,  October  25,  1902.] 

It  is  my  deliberate  judgment  that  an  Appalachian 
forest  reserve  is  a  matter  of  more  importance  to 
the  people  of  the  South  than  any  other  thing  that 
has  received  their  attention  since  the  days  of  the  Civil 
War  and  Reconstruction.  Upon  the  result  of  this 
undertaking  depends  in  a  large  measure  the  industrial 
future  of  the  fairest  part  of  the  South.  If  there  be 
some  who  think  that  I  exaggerate,  I  invite  them  to  an 
impartial  investigation  for  themselves.  It  will  be 
found  that  my  words  are  not  stronger  than  those  of 
the  competent  and  disinterested  experts  in  forestry 
and  hydrography  whom  the  Federal  authorities  have 
sent  to  investigate  the  subject,  and  that  they  are 
fully  justified  by  the  facts  that  have  been  officially 
recorded. 

What  is  this  Southern  Appalachian  region,  this 
"chief  physiographic  feature  of  the  eastern  half  of 
the  continent"?  It  is  the  mountain  country  of  the 
Virginias,  the  Carolinas,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Georgia,  and  Alabama.  It  embraces  the  lovely  re 
gions  fitly  called  "the  Land  of  the  Sky"  and  the 
"Sapphire  Country."  I  may  be  pardoned  for  add 
ing  that  it  also  includes  east  Tennessee  and  the  city 
of  Knoxville.  No  man  has  seen  more  beautiful 


Joshua  W.  Caldwell  281 

things  than  those  southern  mountains.  How  well 
do  Ruskin's  beautiful  words  and  imagery  fit  them: 
"Cathedrals  of  the  earth,  with  their  gates  of  rock, 
pavements  of  cloud,  choirs  of  streams  and  stones, 
altars  of  snow,  and  vaults  of  purple,  traversed  by  the 
continual  stars."  One  glory  of  these  mountains  is 
their  waters,  for  uno  clearer  or  diviner  waters  ever 
sang  with  constant  lips  of  the  land  which  giveth  rain 
from  heaven."  Another  glory  is  their  forests,  with 
their  trees  "rooting  themselves  in  inhospitable  rocks, 
crowding  down  together  to  drink  at  sweetest  streams, 
climbing  hand  in  hand  among  the  difficult  slopes, 
gliding  in  grave  procession  over  the  heavenward 
ridges." 

It  is  the  waters  and  the  rivers  that  we  would  save, 
for  their  beauty  and  for  all  the  benefits  which  they 
bestow  upon  men.  One  may  hesitate  to  plead  for 
mere  beauty  in  an  age  so  utilitarian,  and  yet  apart 
from  all  other  considerations  it  seems  to  me  a  dese 
cration,  a  crime  which  cannot  be  extenuated,  to  rob 
these  mountains  of  their  glorious  woods,  to  dry  up 
the  springs,  to  convert  the  streams  into  dribbling 
rivulets,  save  when  they  are  made  raging  tor 
rents  by  the  rains  that  fall  on  the  stripped  rocks. 
Those  mountains  are  the  homes  of  the  trees,  they 
are  not  fit  for  plowmen.  It  is  folly,  as  well  as  a 
crime,  to  destroy  the  trees.  The  mountains  are 
nature's  reservoirs  of  pure  water  for  the  uses  of 
man.  They  are  not  to  remain  untouched,  but  to  be 
treated  wisely,  with  consideration,  and  with  unfailing 
care. 

We  do  not  ask  that  the  woodman  shall  be  ex 
cluded  from  these  forests,  only  that  he  shall  cull  in 
moderation  and  with  judgment.  The  untold  wealth 
of  these  ancient  woods  was  meant  for  man,  but  to  be 
used,  not  abused.  A  scientific  writer  says  of  the 
forests:  "Perhaps  no  other  natural  agent  has  done 


282  Oratory  of  the  South 

so  much  for  the  human  race  and  has  been  so  reck 
lessly  used  and  so  little  understood." 

We  have  reached  the  point  in  America  where  van 
dalism  in  our  forests  must  be  checked.  Fortunately 
we  have  seen  the  evils  that  the  ruthless  lumberman 
may  do  before  his  invasion  of  our  Southern  forest 
has  become  irresistible,  but  the  wanton  destruction 
that  he  has  wrought  elsewhere  now  drives  him  to  us. 
Of  the  woods  of  the  Appalachian  Mountain  region 
perhaps  one-fourth  have  disappeared,  the  remainder 
having  been  saved  by  prompt  action  of  Congress. 
Let  us  not  charge  all  the  harm  that  has  been  done  to 
the  strange  lumberman.  The  natives  are  by  no 
means  without  fault.  Thousands  of  old  sedge  fields 
scattered  through  the  South  attest  the  incapacity  and 
the  improvidence  of  our  small  farmers.  They  were 
murdered  by  perpetual  crops  of  corn. 

In  the  mountains  the  belief  still  prevails  that  the 
chief  end  of  man  and  of  the  earth  is  to  raise  corn 
without  ceasing.  The  heavy  feeding  corn  quickly 
devours  the  soil  of  the  little  valleys,  and  the  farmer 
begins  to  clear  the  hills.  The  steep  slope  is  laid  bare 
and  a  bull  tongue  plow,  steer  impelled,  makes  strag 
gling  incisions  three  inches  deep  among  the  rocks 
and  stumps.  The  virgin  soil  yields  fair  returns. 
The  fall  and  winter  rains  wash  away  the  soil  that 
has  been  loosened;  the  next  year  the  bull  tongue 
scratches  three  inches  deeper,  and  in  the  fall  another 
three  inches  of  soil  is  washed  away.  As  the  soil 
departs  the  crops  decrease,  and  in  five  or  six  years  the 
soil  is  all  gone  and  the  plowman  must  climb  higher. 
At  last  he  reaches  the  limit  of  his  land  or  of  the 
steer's  capacity  to  climb,  he  has  killed  the  trees,  his 
farm  has  been  washed  away,  and  he  goes  west  in 
search  of  new  lands  to  destroy.  Upon  the  barren 
waste  he  has  made  there  is  nothing  to  hold  the  rains 
that  fall;  the  water  gathers  and  rushes  into  the  val- 


Joshua  W.  Caldwell  283 

ley,  the  streams  are  swollen  and  floods  are  upon  the 
lowlands. 

The  scientist  tells  us  that  in  the  streams  rising  in 
the  Appalachian  region  there  are  more  than  one  mil 
lion  horsepower  yet  undeveloped,  and  I  venture  to 
say  that  their  estimate  is  by  far  too  low.  Hereto 
fore  the  forest,  the  bed  of  leaves,  and  the  poorest 
soil  have  gathered  the  water,  held  it  in  reserve,  and 
thus  insured  the  equable  flow  of  the  stream.  With 
the  forests,  the  leaf  beds,  and  the  soil  gone,  the  en 
tire  rainfall  rushes  at  once  into  the  lowlands;  there 
are  repeated  floods  in  winter  and  spring,  and  when 
the  dry  season  comes  the  reduced  springs  cannot  sup 
ply  the  streams. 

Let  us  understand  that  no  wasteful  or  even  un 
profitable  investment  is  asked  of  the  government. 
Experience  in  other  countries  proves  that  forest  re 
serves  can,  in  a  little  while,  be  made  not  only  self-sup 
porting,  but  productive  of  revenue,  and  we  may  thus 
rely,  safely,  upon  the  powerful  argument  of  profit; 
not  the  large  but  intangible  profit  of  having  the  land 
and  the  water  power,  and  the  glorious  woods,  but 
money  profit  actually  paid  into  the  treasury.  Mean 
while  the  lumberman  may  go  on  with  his  work,  not 
without  restrictions,  but  without  any  unreasonable 
hindrance,  so  that  the  lumberman  of  the  next  genera 
tion  and  of  all  other  generations  thereafter  may  reap 
in  these  same  forests,  which,  properly  used,  are  in 
exhaustible.  Some  of  the  species  of  the  noble  trees 
of  this  region  are,  even  now,  almost  extinct.  The 
stumps  of  the  black  walnut  are  mined  and  sold  at 
fabulous  prices  and  the  cherry  is  going  the  way  of 
the  walnut. 

Once  more,  I  say,  it  is  a  public  duty  to  save  our 
forests,  the  ancient  and  steadfast  protectors  of  our 
mountains  and  our  waters,  and  upon  us  who  live 
among  the  mountains  or  under  their  shadows  the  ob- 


284  Oratory  of  the  South 

ligation  is  the  strongest.  The  duty  that  rests  upon 
us  is  clear  and  imperative,  and  as  we  shall  be  faith 
ful  or  unfaithful,  we  will  merit  and  will  have  the 
gratitude  or  the  condemnation  of  posterity. 


TRIBUTE  TO  CALVIN  HENDERSON 
WILEY 

JAMES  Y.  JOYNER 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  North  Carolina 

[Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
monument  to  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  at  Winston,  N.  C.,  Septem 
ber  9,  1904.] 

Little  can  the  living  do  for  the  dead.  In  vain 
for  them  do  the  living  speak  their  words  of  praise 
and  love.  In  vain  for  them  do  the  living  prepare 
their  pomp  and  pageantry  and  rear  their  monuments 
of  brass  and  stone.  Monuments,  mausoleums,  and 
statues  to  the  truly  great  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
noble  deeds,  teach  the  living  by  great  example,  and 
incite  them  to  better  lives  by  the  record  of  the  virtues 
of  the  dead.  In  thus  honoring  the  memory  of  the 
noble  dead  the  living  honor  most  themselves. 

Only  a  record  of  service  deserves  to  be  written  on 
enduring  stone  or  lasting  brass.  All  other  records 
should  be  and  are  "in  water  writ."  If  unselfish  and 
lasting  service  be  the  true  test  of  greatness  and  worth, 
then  few  that  have  lived  in  our  generation  have  so 
richly  deserved  at  our  hands  the  tribute  of  a  monu 
ment  as  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley.  His  signal  service 
to  his  people,  the  service  that  entitles  him  to  a  place 
in  their  hearts  forever,  is  the  service  in  organizing 
and  bringing  to  efficiency  the  public  school  system 
of  the  State. 
*  Surely  the  hour  had  struck  in  North  Carolina  when 


James  Y.  Joyner  285 

a  great  leader  was  needed  to  organize  and  direct  a 
great  system  of  public  schools  for  all  the  children  of 
the  State.  "The  people  perished  for  lack  of  knowl 
edge."  About  one-third  of  the  adult  white  popula 
tion  of  the  State  were  unable  to  read  and  write. 
Where  was  the  leader  for  this  great  work? 

I  believe  in  the  inspiration  and  the  divine  call  of 
great  men  to  their  great  work.  " Where  did  Shake 
speare  get  his  genius?  Where  did  Mozart  get  his 
music?  Whose  hand  smote  the  lyre  of  the  Scottish 
plowman  and  stayed  the  life  of  the  German  priest? 
God,  God,  and  God  alone."  If  ever  man  was  in 
spired  and  called  of  God  to  a  work,  Calvin  H.  Wiley 
seems  to  me  to  have  been  inspired  and  called  to  his. 

Yonder  in  the  classic,  cultured  old  town  of  Ox 
ford  is  a  young  lawyer  of  fine  promise  and  fine  cul 
ture,  a  graduate  with  high  honor  of  the  university 
of  his  State,  a  man  of  rare  literary  taste  and  attain 
ment,  author  already  of  several  books  of  more  than 
average  merit  and  popularity.  In  the  midst  of  the 
most  congenial  social  and  literary  surroundings,  life 
to  him  was  indeed  sweet,  and  all  the  skies  of  his 
future  were  aglow  with  the  roseate  promise  of  pro 
fessional  and  literary  fame.  Ambition  wooed  him 
to  follow  where  she  pointed  the  way.  But  another 
voice  is  heard,  a  still,  small  voice.  Things  have 
been  going  badly  yonder  at  the  dear  old  home  in 
Guilford.  Financial  reverses  have  come,  the  old 
father  has  been  compelled  to  surrender  a  large  part 
of  the  ancestral  lands,  and  now  even  the  roof  that 
shelters  father  and  mother  and  the  two  young  sis 
ters  is  endangered  by  debt.  His  loved  ones  need 
him,  the  voice  of  duty  calls ;  the  young  man  hears  and 
obeys,  for  he  indeed  is  of  that  heroic  mold  "who 
reverenced  his  conscience  as  his  king."  Without  a 
murmur,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  he  turns 
away  from  the  literary  visions  that  lure  him  on, 


286  Oratory  of  the  South 

leaves  his  delightful  social  and  intellectual  surround 
ings,  returns  to  the  seclusion  of  the  country  home  of 
his  boyhood,  and  quietly  takes  up  the  burden  of  life 
and  of  family  support  on  the  little  remnant  of  the 
wasted  farm.  As  if  to  make  the  struggle  harder 
and  the  sacrifice  greater,  his  political  party,  the  Whig, 
was  just  coming  into  power  in  the  nation,  and  he 
was  seeking,  with  some  prospect  of  success,  an  ap 
pointment  to  a  foreign  consulship,  which  would  have 
given  him  means  and  leisure  for  the  pursuit  of  his 
cherished  literary  work.  He  lays  this  ambition  and 
prospect  on  duty's  altar  too.  Of  such  stuff  was  this 
man  made. 

Little  knows  man  what  is  best  to  do.  uLead, 
Kindly  Light."  Ever  at  his  peril  man  disobeys  the 
voice  of  duty,  which  is  the  voice  of  God.  There  is 
something  tragic,  though,  in  the  sacrifice  of  a  cher 
ished  plan  and  a  fond  ambition,  even  at  duty's  call. 
There  is  something  heroic,  too.  We  can  understand 
now  what  he  could  not  then,  how  in  this  sacrifice  was 
a  blessing  for  men  and  for  him  too,  and  how  through 
it  he  should  be  led  to  a  grander  mission  and  a  nobler 
fame. 

Thus  was  Calvin  H.  Wiley  called  from  the  work 
that  he  had  chosen  for  himself  to  the  work  that  God 
had  chosen  for  him.  Thus  was  the  great  leader 
found  for  the  great  educational  work  that  the  hour 
called  for. 

From  the  hour  of  his  return  to  the  old  farm  in 
Guilford,  a  new  life,  a  new  career,  lay  before  him, 
a  life  of  long,  unselfish  service,  first  to  his  kindred 
and  then  to  his  beloved  native  State.  He  returned 
to  Guilford  in  1849;  'm  ^S0  he  was  elected  to  the 
General  Assembly.  In  the  legislature  of  i85O-'5i 
he  introduced  and  advocated  in  a  speech  of  great 
power  and  eloquence  his  bill  "To  provide  for  the 
appointment  of  a  superintendent  of  common  schools 


James  Y.  Joyner  287 

and  for  other  purposes."  This  was  the  beginning 
of  his  public  career  and  of  his  great  service  to  the 
public  schools.  The  speech  in  support  of  his  bill 
showed  a  careful  and  thorough  study  of  the  common 
schools  of  this  State,  a  clear  comprehension  of  their 
defects  and  of  the  remedies  for  those,  and  a  sur 
prising  knowledge  of  the  successful  school  systems 
of  other  States.  His  bill  received  a  large  vote,  but 
failed  to  pass.  Dr.  Wiley  was  also  a  member  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  i852-'53,  and  through  his 
influence  a  bill  for  the  appointment  of  a  State  superin 
tendent  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Cherry,  of  Bertie. 
This  bill  was  passed,  and  stands  as  chapter  18  in  the 
public  acts  of  1852.  So  great  had  been  Dr.  Wiley's 
activity  in  advancing  the  interests  of  the  schools  that, 
without  the  slightest  solicitation  on  his  part,  he  was 
elected  in  December,  1852,  by  a  Democratic  legis 
lature,  by  a  large  majority  State  superintendent  of 
common  schools,  though  he  was  a  Whig  in  politics 
and  a  lawyer  by  profession.  He  entered  upon  his 
duties  January  i,  1853. 

He  never  lost  his  interest  in  the  public  schools. 
With  pen  and  voice  he  labored  for  the  advancement 
of  the  people's  schools  to  the  day  of  his  death.  His 
last  service  to  the  cause  was  that  rendered  in  the  es 
tablishment  of  the  admirable  system  of  graded 
schools  here  in  your  own  city.  Who  can  forget  the 
zeal  and  enthusiasm  with  which  he  labored  for  their 
establishment,  the  solicitude  with  which  he  watched 
over  them,  and  the  wisdom  with  which,  as  chairman 
of  the  first  board  of  trustees,  he  guided  them  in  their 
early  days.  There  was  the  tender  touch  of  a 
father's  love  for  a  child  in  his  devotion  to  these 
schools.  It  is  peculiarly  fitting  that  those  to  whom 
his  last  service  to  education  was  rendered  should  be 
the  first  to  do  tardy  justice  to  his  memory  by  the 
erection  of  this  beautiful  monument.  It  is  peculiarly 


288  Oratory  of  the  South 

fitting  that  this  monument  should  be  erected  by  the 
thousand  small  offerings  of  the  children  of  these 
schools.  It  is  peculiarly  fitting  that  the  monument 
should  stand  beside  that  monument  of  brick  and  mor 
tar  yonder  erected  mainly  through  his  efforts  as  a 
last  service  of  an  old  man  to  a  cause  for  which  his 
life  was  spent. 

Of  the  beautiful  private  character  of  the  man  I 
need  not  speak  to  those  among  whom  he  lived  so 
long  and  to  whom  were  daily  revealed  his  gentleness, 
sweetness,  courage,  friendliness,  geniality,  cheerful 
ness,  earnestness,  and  enthusiasm  for  every  good 
work. 

Archibald  D.  Murphey,  "Father  of  the  Common 
Schools,"  Bartlett  Yancey,  "Creator  of  the  Literary 
Fund,"  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley,  "Organizer  and 
Maker  of  the  Public  School  System."  Measured 
by  length  of  service  and  by  the  practical  and  far- 
reaching  results  of  his  work,  shall  we  not  say  that  the 
greatest  of  these  is  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley? 

For  his  service  he  deserves  the  honor  that  you  pay 
to  his  memory  to-day.  For  this  he  shall  receive  the 
undying  gratitude  of  generations  yet  unborn  as  they 
shall  learn  from  history's  shining  page  the  everlast 
ing  debt  they  owe. 

THE  DEMOCRACY  OF  THE  SOUTH 

HENRY  W.  GRADY 

Formerly  Editor  of  the  Atlanta  Constitution;  generally 
recognized  as  the  leading  Southern  orator  of  the  past 
generation. 

[Condensed  from  his  last  public  address,  delivered  before 
the  Bay  State  Club,  Boston,  December,  1889.] 

It  is  the  pride,  I  believe,  of  the  South,  with  her 
simple  faith  and  her  homogeneous  people,  that  we 


Henry  W.  Grady  289 

elevate  there  the  citizen  above  the  party,  and  the 
citizen  above  everything.  We  teach  a  man  that  his 
best  guide  at  last  is  his  own  conscience,  that  his 
sovereignty  rests  beneath  his  hat,  that  his  own  right 
arm  and  his  own  stout  heart  are  his  best  dependence ; 
that  he  should  rely  on  his  State  for  nothing  that  he 
can  do  for  himself,  and  on  his  government  for  noth 
ing  that  his  State  can  do  for  him ;  but  that  he  should 
stand  upright  and  self-respecting,  dowering  his 
family  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  loving  to  his  State, 
loyal  to  his  Republic,  earnest  in  his  allegiance  wher 
ever  it  rests,  but  building  at  last  his  altars  above  his 
own  hearthstone  and  shrining  his  own  liberty  in  his 
own  heart.  That  is  a  sentiment  that  I  might  have 
been  afraid  to  avow  last  night.  And  yet  it  is  mighty 
good  Democratic  doctrine,  too. 

I  went  to  Washington  the  other  day  and  I  stood 
on  the  Capitol  hill  and  my  heart  beat  quick  as  I 
looked  at  the  towering  marble  of  my  country's 
Capitol,  and  a  mist  gathered  in  my  eyes  as  I  thought 
of  its  tremendous  significance,  of  the  armies  and  the 
treasury  and  the  judges  and  the  President  and  the 
Congress  and  the  courts,  and  all  that  was  gathered 
there;  and  I  felt  that  the  sun  in  all  its  course  could 
not  look  down  on  a  better  sight  than  that  majestic 
home  of  a  Republic  that  has  taught  the  world  its 
best  lessons  of  liberty. 

A  few  days  afterwards  I  went  to  visit  a  friend  in 
the  country,  a  modest  man,  with  a  quiet  country 
home.  It  was  just  a  simple,  unpretentious  house, 
set  about  with  great  trees  and  encircled  in  meadow 
and  field  rich  with  the  promise  of  harvest;  the 
fragrance  of  the  pink  and  the  hollyhock  in  the 
front  yard  was  mingled  with  the  aroma  of  the  or 
chard  and  the  garden  and  the  resonant  clucking  of 
poultry  and  the  hum  of  bees.  Inside  was  quiet, 
cleanliness,  thrift,  and  comfort.  Outside  there 


290  Oratory  of  the  South 

stood  my  good  friend,  the  master — a  simple,  in 
dependent,  upright  man,  with  no  mortgage  on  his 
roof,  no  lien  on  his  growing  crops — master  of 
his  land  and  master  of  himself.  There  was  the  old 
father,  an  aged  and  trembling  man,  but  happy  in 
the  heart  and  home  of  his  son.  And  as  he  started 
to  enter  his  home  the  hand  of  the  old  man  went  down 
on  the  young  man's  shoulder,  laying  there  the  un 
speakable  blessing  of  an  honored  and  honorable 
father,  and  ennobling  it  with  the  knighthood  of  the 
fifth  commandment.  And  as  we  approached  the 
door  the  mother  came,  a  happy  smile  lighting  up  her 
face,  while  with  the  rich  music  of  her  heart  she 
bade  her  husband  and  her  son  welcome  to  their  home. 
Beyond  was  the  housewife,  busy  with  her  domestic 
affairs,  the  loving  helpmate  of  her  husband.  Down 
the  lane  came  the  children  after  the  cows,  singing 
sweetly,  as  like  birds  they  sought  the  quiet  of  their 
rest. 

So  the  night  came  down  on  that  house,  falling 
gently  as  the  wing  of  an  unseen  dove.  And  the  old 
man,  while  a  startled  bird  called  from  the  forest  and 
the  trees  thrilled  with  the  cricket's  cry,  and  the  stars 
were  falling  from  the  sky,  called  the  family  around 
him  and  took  the  Bible  from  the  table  and  called 
them  to  their  knees,  while  he  closed  the  record  of 
that  day  by  calling  down  God's  blessing  on  that 
simple  home. 

While  I  gazed,  the  vision  of  the  marble  Capitol 
faded;  forgotten  were  its  treasuries  and  its  majesty; 
and  I  said:  "Surely  here  in  the  homes  of  the  people 
lodge  at  last  the  strength  and  the  responsibility  of 
this  government,  the  hope  and  the  promise  of  this 
Republic." 

My  friends,  that  is  the  Democracy  of  the  South; 
that  is  the  Democratic  doctrine  we  preach;  a  doc 
trine,  sir,  that  is  writ  above  our  hearthstones.  We 


Henry  W.  Grady  291 

aim  to  make  our  homes,  poor  as  they  are,  self-re 
specting  and  independent.  We  try  to  make  them 
temples  of  refinement,  in  which  our  daughters  may 
learn  that  woman's  best  charm  and  strength  are  her 
gentleness  and  her  grace,  and  temples  of  liberty  in 
which  our  sons  may  learn  that  no  power  can  justify 
and  no  treasure  repay  for  the  surrender  of  the  slight 
est  right  of  a  free  individual  American  citizen. 

You  want  to  know  about  the  South.  I  just  want 
to  say  that  we  have  had  a  hard  time  down  there.  I 
attended  a  funeral  once  in  Pickens  county  in  my 
State.  A  funeral  is  not  usually  a  cheerful  object  to 
me  unless  I  could  select  the  subject.  I  think  I  could, 
perhaps,  without  going  a  hundred  miles  from  here, 
find  the  material  for  one  or  two  cheerful  funerals. 
Still,  this  funeral  was  peculiarly  sad.  It  was  a  poor 
"one  gallus"  fellow,  whose  breeches  struck  him  under 
the  armpits  and  hit  him  at  the  other  end  about  the 
knee.  They  buried  him  in  the  midst  of  a  marble 
quarry — they  cut  through  solid  marble  to  make  his 
grave — and  yet  a  little  tombstone  they  put  above 
him  was  from  Vermont.  They  buried  him  in  the 
heart  of  a  pine  forest,  and  yet  the  pine  coffin  was  im 
ported  from  Cincinnati.  They  buried  him  within 
touch  of  an  iron  mine,  and  yet  the  nails  in  his  coffin 
and  the  iron  in  the  shovel  that  dug  his  grave  were 
imported  from  Pittsburg.  They  buried  him  by  the 
side  of  the  best  sheep-grazing  country  on  the  earth, 
and  yet  the  wool  in  the  coffin  bands  and  the  coffin 
bands  themselves  were  brought  from  the  North. 
The  South  didn't  furnish  a  thing  on  earth  for  that 
funeral  but  the  corpse  and  the  hole  in  the  ground. 
There  they  put  him  away  and  the  clods  rattled  down 
on  his  coffin,  and  they  buried  him  in  a  New  York 
coat  and  a  Boston  pair  of  shoes  and  a  pair  of  breeches 
from  Chicago  and  a  shirt  from  Cincinnati,  leaving 
him  nothing  to  carry  into  the  next  world  with  him  to 


292  Oratory  of  the  South 

remind  him  of  the  country  in  which  he  lived  and  for 
which  he  fought  for  four  years,  but  the  chilled  blood 
in  his  veins  and  the  marrow  in  his  bones. 

Now  we  have  improved  on  that.  We  have  got 
the  biggest  marble  cutting  establishment  on  earth 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  grave.  We  have  got 
a  half-dozen  woolen  mills  right  around  it,  and  iron 
mines,  and  iron  furnaces,  and  iron  factories.  We 
are  coming  to  meet  you.  We  are  going  to  take  a 
noble  revenge,  as  my  friend,  Mr.  Carnegie,  said  last 
night,  by  invading  every  inch  of  your  territory  with 
iron,  as  you  invaded  ours  twenty-nine  years  ago. 

Now,  I  want  to  say  one  word  about  the  reception 
we  had  here.  It  has  been  a  constant  revelation  of 
hospitality  and  kindness  and  brotherhood  from  the 
whole  people  of  this  city  to  myself  and  my  friends. 
It  has  touched  us  beyond  measure. 

I  was  struck  with  one  thing  last  night.  Every 
speaker  that  arose  expressed  his  confidence  in  the 
future  and  lasting  glory  of  this  Republic.  There 
may  be  men,  and  there  are,  who  insist  on  getting  up 
fratricidal  strife,  and  who  infamously  fan  the  embers 
of  war  that  they  may  raise  them  again  into  a  blaze. 
But  just  as  certain  as  there  is  a  God  in  the  heavens, 
when  those  noisy  insects  of  the  hour  have  perished 
in  the  heat  that  gave  them  life,  and  their  pestilent 
tongues  have  ceased,  the  great  clock  of  this  Republic 
will  strike  the  slow-moving  tranquil  hours,  and  the 
watchman  from  the  street  will  cry,  "All  is  well  with 
the  Republic;  all  is  well." 

We  bring  to  you,  from  hearts  that  yearn  for  your 
confidence  and  for  your  love,  the  message  of  fellow 
ship  from  our  homes.  This  message  comes  from 
consecrated  ground.  The  fields  in  which  I  played  as 
a  boy  were  the  battlefields  of  this  Republic,  hallowed 
to  you  with  the  blood  of  your  soldiers  who  died  in  vic 
tory,  and  doubly  sacred  to  us  with  the  blood  of  ours 


Henry  W.  Grady  293 

who  died  undaunted  in  defeat.  All  around  my  home 
are  set  the  hills  of  Kennesaw,  all  around  the  moun 
tains  and  hills  down  which  the  gray  flag  fluttered  to 
defeat,  and  through  which  American  soldiers  from 
either  side  charged  like  demigods ;  and  I  do  not  think 
I  could  bring  you  a  false  message  from  those  old 
hills  and  those  sacred  fields — witnesses  twenty  years 
ago  in  their  red  desolation  of  the  deathless  valor  of 
American  arms  and  the  quenchless  bravery  of  Ameri 
can  hearts,  and  in  their  white  peace  and  tranquillity 
to-day  of  the  imperishable  union  of  the  States  and  the 
indestructible  brotherhood  of  the  American  people. 
It  is  likely  that  I  will  not  again  see  Bostonians 
assembled  together.  I  therefore  want  to  take  this 
occasion  to  thank  you,  and  my  excellent  friends  of 
last  night  and  those  friends  who  accompanied  us  this 
morning,  for  all  that  you  have  done  for  us  since  we 
have  been  in  your  city,  and  to  say  that  whenever  any 
of  you  come  South  just  speak  your  name,  and  remem 
ber  that  Boston  or  Massachusetts  is  the  watchword, 
and  we  will  meet  you  at  the  gates. 

"The  monarch  may  forget  the  crown 

That  on  his  head  so  late  hath  been  ; 
The  bridegroom  may  forget  the  bride 

Was  made  his  own  but  yestere'en; 
The  mother  may  forget  the  babe 

That  smiled  so  sweetly  on  her  knee; 
But  forget  thee  will  I  ne'er,  Glencairn, 

And  all  that  thou  hast  done  for  me." 


294  Oratory  of  the  South 

RECONSTRUCTION    IN    THE    SOUTH: 
PAST   AND    PRESENT 

CHARLES  B.  GALLOWAY 

Methodist  Bishop  of  Mississippi 

[Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  the  dedication  of 
Mississippi's  new  Capitol,  June  3,  1903.] 

The  final  test  of  Southern  character  was  not  dis 
played  in  laying  the  broad  foundations  of  a  new 
civilization;  not  in  the  solemn  but  tumultuous  coun 
cils  out  of  which  was  evolved  our  great  system  of 
government;  not  in  the  historic  halls  of  state  where 
Titans  struggled  for  mastery  over  national  principles 
and  policies;  not  in  the  splendid  valor  of  her  sons 
in  the  storm  and  red  rain  of  terrific  battle;  not  in 
the  military  genius  of  her  peerless  captains,  pro 
nounced  by  critics  to  be  the  greatest  marshals  of 
modern  times;  but  in  their  serene  fortitude,  and  un 
yielding  heroism,  and  unconquerable  spirit,  after  the 
storm  of  battle  had  ceased  and  they  were  left  only 
"the  scarred  and  charred  remains  of  fire  and  tem 
pest."  Surpassing  the  splendor  of  their  courage  in 
battle  was  the  grandeur  of  their  fortitude  in  defeat. 
The  sublimest  hour  in  the  Southern  soldier's  life  was 
the  time  of  his  pathetic  home-coming.  I  have  seen 
the  painting  representing  the  returned  Confederate 
soldier,  which  in  my  judgment  is  not  true  to  the  facts 
of  history.  He  stands,  in  tattered  garments,  amid 
the  ruins  of  his  home,  the  gate  fallen  from  its  hinges, 
weeds  covering  the  door-step,  leaning  upon  his  old 
musket,  with  a  downcast  look  and  a  broken  heart. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  only  waited  long  enough  to 
greet  the  faithful  wife  whom  he  had  not  seen  for 
four  stormy  years,  and  kiss  the  dear  children  who 
had  grown  out  of  his  recognition,  and  then  with  grim 
determination  put  his  hand  to  the  stern  task  of  re- 


Charles  B.  Galloway  295 

constructing  his  once  beautiful  home  and  rebuilding 
his  shattered  fortunes  on  other  and  broader  founda 
tions.  Men  of  principle  never  falter  though  they 
fail.  They  felt  the  bitterness  of  defeat,  but  not  the 
horrors  of  despair.  How  those  brave  men,  the  sons 
of  affluence,  addressed  themselves  to  the  grinding 
conditions  of  sudden  and  humiliating  poverty  can 
never  be  described  by  mortal  tongue  or  pen. 

And  those  pitiless  years  of  reconstruction !  Worse 
than  the  calamities  of  war  were  "the  desolating  furies 
of  peace."  No  proud  people  ever  suffered  such  in 
dignities,  or  endured  such  humiliation  and  degrada 
tion.  More  heartless  than  the  robber  bands  that 
infested  Germany  after  the  Thirty  Years'  War  were 
the  hordes  of  plunderers,  and  vultures  who  fed  and 
fattened  upon  the  disarmed  and  defenseless  South. 
Their  ferocious  greed  knew  no  satiety,  and  their 
shameless  rapacity  sought  to  strip  us  to  the  skin.  As 
Judge  Jere  Black,  with  characteristic  vividness  and 
vigor,  has  said:  "Their  felonious  fingers  were  made 
long  enough  to  reach  into  the  pockets  of  posterity. 
They  coined  the  industry  of  future  generations  into 
cash  and  snatched  the  inheritance  from  children 
whose  fathers  are  unborn.  A  conflagration,  sweep 
ing  over  the  State  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and 
destroying  every  building  and  every  article  of  per 
sonal  property,  would  have  been  a  visitation  of  mercy 
in  comparison  to  the  curse  of  such  a  government." 

But  no  brave  people  ever  endured  oppression  and 
poverty  with  such  calm  dignity  and  splendid  self- 
restraint.  And  by  dint  of  their  own  unconquerable 
spirit  and  tireless  toil,  they  saw  their  beautiful  land 
rise  from  the  ashes  into  affluence.  The  South  no 
longer  "speaks  with  pathos  or  sings  the  miserere." 
She  has  risen  from  poverty  and  smiles  at  defeat. 
Out  of  the  fire  and  tempest  and  baptism  of  blood 
our  State  has  come  undaunted  in  spirit  and  with  un- 


Oratory  of  the  South 

faltering  faith  in  the  future.  It  is  said  that  the 
green  grass  peacefully  waving  over  the  field  of 
Waterloo  the  summer  after  the  famous  battle  sug 
gested  to  Lord  Byron,  in  his  "Childe  Harold,"  to 
exclaim : 

"How  this  red  rain  has  made  the  harvest  grow." 

So  every  battle-plain  that  was  once  furrowed  with 
shot  and  shell  and  wet  with  the  blood  of  brothers  now 
waves  with  the  abundant  harvest  of  a  new  and  larger 
life.  The  refluent  wave  has  set  in.  After  a  long 
and  bitter  night  the  morning  dawns.  "It  is  day 
break  everywhere." 

When  William  McKinley,  himself  a  gallant  sol 
dier,  in  the  magnanimity  of  his  great  soul,  and  voic 
ing  the  sentiment  of  a  reunited  nation,  proposed  that 
the  government  should  garland  and  protect  the  graves 
of  our  Confederate  dead,  the  angel  of  a  new  apoca 
lypse  swept  through  our  American  heavens  and  sang 
again  the  song  of  the  Judean  hills,  "Peace  on  earth, 
good  will  to  men."  This  nation  is  more  united  in 
heart  and  hope  to-day  than  ever  in  its  history.  The 
honor  of  our  flag  is  as  dear  to  the  sons  of  the  South 
as  the  North,  and  wrapped  in  its  glorious  folds  they 
have  been  laid  to  sleep  in  the  same  heroic  grave.  I 
cannot  forget  that  we  were 

"One  people  in  our  early  prime, 

One  in  our  stormy  youth, 
Drinking  one  stream  of  human  thought, 
One  spring  of  heavenly  truth," 

and  I  trust  that  we  may  forever  fight  the  battles  of 
our  God  and  country  under  a  common  flag,  on  which 
there  is  a  star  that  answers  to  the  proud  name  of  Mis 
sissippi. 

And  from  such  a  wide  national  outlook  there  will 
come  immediate  and  permanent  blessing  to  these 


Charles  B.  Galloway  297 

Southern  States.  There  is  profound  political  philos 
ophy  in  the  utterance  of  a  distinguished  Mississippi 
statesman,  that  "the  one  great  need  of  the  South  is 
a  great  national  aspiration  nationally  recognized." 
Let  the  wide  sweep  of  our  horizon  take  in  the  whole 
nation.  Our  domestic  troubles  may  find  easier  solu 
tion  in  the  broadening  of  our  sympathies  and  enlarg 
ing  the  field  of  our  political  activities.  Passion  and 
provincialism  vanish  in  a  perspective. 

Upon  the  statue  of  Benjamin  H.  Hill  in  the  capi- 
tol  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  a  statue  erected  to  that  great 
senator,  the  echoes  of  whose  strangely  musical  voice 
yet  thrills  the  heart  of  Southern  patriotism  like  the 
notes  of  a  bugle,  are  these  words,  spoken  by  himself : 
"Who  saves  his  country,  saves  all  things,  and  all 
things  saved  will  bless  him.  Who  lets  his  country 
die,  lets  all  things  die,  and  all  things  dying,  curse 
him." 

That  sentiment  I  would  engrave  upon  the  heart 
of  every  young  Mississippian,  and  make  it  the  inspi 
ration  of  every  patriotic  service.  One  as  much  be 
trays  his  country  by  disregarding  her  needs  as  in  de 
serting  her  colors.  Patriotic  activity  in  public  affairs 
is  the  present  and  imperial  demand  upon  every  Amer 
ican  citizen.  And  the  humblest  service,  if  cour 
ageously  and  conscientiously  performed,  will  be  of 
infinitely  more  value  to  the  state  than  the  dignified 
dawdling  of  some  petted  lounger  in  conspicuous 
place. 

I  have  seen  it  stated  that  along  the  line  of  the  great 
Siberian  railway  men  are  stationed  at  certain  short 
distances,  each  furnished  with  a  green  flag  by  day 
and  a  green  lantern  at  night.  By  the  waving  of 
these  the  engineers  are  assured  of  a  clear  and  safe 
track,  and  confidently  fly  over  the  steel  rails  with  the 
speed  of  the  wind.  They  are  never  out  of  sight  of 
a  waving  flag  or  a  swinging  light.  Theirs  is  a  mod- 


298  Oratory  of  the  South 

est  and  monotonous,  but  a  most  momentous  service. 
Oh,  if  I  can  do  no  more  for  the  land  of  my  love, — 
the  land  which  gave  me  birth  and  in  whose  generous 
bosom  I  hope  to  sleep  at  last, — let  me  wave  a  flag 
in  the  daytime  or  swing  a  light  in  the  darkness,  for 
the  safe  and  swift  passing  of  her  car  of  triumphal 
progress  down  the  track  of  centuries. 

My  earnest  prayer  for  my  native  State  is,  that  Mis 
sissippi  may  ever  'rank  among  the  greatest,  strongest, 
purest,  and  most  prosperous  Commonwealths  in  this 
mighty  nation.  And  for  the  nation  I  have  a  vision 
"simple  in  its  majesty,  sublime  in  its  beauty,"  best 
described  in  the  eloquent  words  of  our  incomparable 
Lucius  Q.  C.  Lamar,  "It  is  that  of  one  grand, 
mighty,  indivisible  Republic  upon  this  continent, 
throwing  its  loving  arms  around  all  sections,  omnipo 
tent  for  protection,  powerless  for  oppression;  curs 
ing  none,  blessing  all." 

PROHIBITION  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA 

JETER  C.   PRITCHARD 

United    States    Circuit    Court    Judge,    Fourth    District    of 
North  Carolina 

[The  concluding  part  of  an  address  delivered  at  Wil 
mington,  N.  C.,  March  14,  1908,  in  opening  the  State  pro 
hibition  campaign.] 

The  prohibition  sentiment  is  gaining  ground  rap 
idly  in  every  section  of  this  country,  and  especially 
in  the  South.  There  are  only  thirteen  counties  in 
Kentucky  where  whiskey  is  sold;  every  barroom  in 
the  State  of  Georgia  has  gone  out  of  business,  and 
after  next  Christmas  there  will  be  no  more  barrooms 
in  the  States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  There 
are  only  four  cities  and  two  towns  in  the  State  of 
Tennessee  where  the  sale  of  whiskey  is  licensed.  In 


Jeter  C.  Pritchard  299 

the  State  of  Florida  there  are  only  fourteen  counties 
where  the  sale  of  whiskey  is  permitted,  and  in  our 
own  State  we  have  prohibition  in  a  large  majority 
of  the  counties,  and  if  we  do  our  duty  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  day  of  May  next  there  will  not  be  a  saloon 
left. 

We  are  informed  by  those  who  are  opposed  to 
prohibition  that  prohibition  will  not  prohibit.  It 
might  with  equal  propriety  be  insisted  that  the  law 
which  prohibits  murder  does  not  prohibit,  as  well  as 
all  the  other  laws  which  undertake  to  regulate  human 
conduct.  While  these  laws  do  not  absolutely  pro 
hibit  the  commission  of  crime,  they  do  minimize  the 
commission  of  crime,  and  if  it  were  not  for  such  laws 
anarchy  would  reign  supreme  within  our  borders.  It 
is  not  contended  that  by  the  adoption  of  the  pro 
hibition  law  in  North  Carolina  we  will  be  able  at 
present  to  completely  close  out  the  blind  tigers  and 
altogether  prevent  the  drinking  of  whiskey,  but  that 
the  adoption  of  such  a  law  will  remove  the  tempta 
tion  of  the  barroom  from  our  young  men,  as  well  as 
the  grown-up  men  of  the  State  who  are  inclined  to 
indulge  in  the  use  of  intoxicating  spirits,  cannot  be 
denied. 

We  are  told  by  some  that  if  we  adopt  prohibition 
it  would  deprive  them  of  their  personal  liberty  in  that 
respect.  Americans  are  a  liberty-loving  people,  but 
those  who  are  patriotic  never  desire  to  exercise  this 
right  when  to  do  so  would  be  to  the  detriment  of 
their  fellow-man.  We  enjoy  liberty  to  the  utmost 
in  North  Carolina.  We  have  liberty  of  free  speech; 
liberty  of  the  press;  we  can  go  into  the  courts  and 
invoke  their  aid  in  the  enforcement  of  our  rights; 
we  are  at  liberty  to  belong  to  any  church  or  to  join 
any  political  party;  or  to  engage  in  any  legitimate 
business  without  interference  on  the  part  of  anyone. 
In  a  word,  we  have  the  right  to  do  anything  that  is 


300  Oratory  of  the  South 

calculated  to  improve  our  condition  or  to  advance 
the  welfare  of  our  citizens,  but  when  we  are  asked 
to  license  certain  individuals  to  engage  in  the  business 
of  destroying  our  young  people  morally  and  physi 
cally;  to  wreck  our  homes  and  demoralize  communi 
ties  and  thereby  render  it  impossible  to  advance  the 
cause  of  religion  and  education,  then  the  good  people 
of  our  State  should  in  no  uncertain  tone  notify  those 
who  crave  this  particular  kind  of  liberty  that  in  the 
future  .North  Carolina  will  never  authorize  any  indi 
vidual  to  engage  in  a  business  which  can  only  result 
in  disgrace  and  harm  to  the  human  race. 

Among  other  things,  there  is  involved  in  this  con 
troversy  the  question  as  to  whether  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  prefer  the  barroom  to  schoolhouses, 
churches,  and  other  institutions  intended  for  the 
moral  and  intellectual  development  of  our  people. 
We  are  now  afforded  an  opportunity  to  decide 
whether  we  will  choose  the  barroom,  with  all  its  evil 
tendencies,  in  preference  to  the  other  class  of  institu 
tions  I  have  mentioned.  The  responsibility  for.  the 
result  of  the  approaching  election  will  rest  with  the 
voters  of  the  State,  and  our  destiny  in  this  respect  is 
trembling  in  the  balance,  but  I  have  great  confidence 
in  the  courage  and  manhood  of  our  people,  and  I 
feel  confident  that  we  will  have  an  exhibition  of  pa 
triotism  on  the  day  of  election  which  will  prove  an 
inspiration  for  all  time  to  come  for  those  who  believe 
in  those  things  that  are  calculated  to  promote  the  best 
interests  of  the  American  people. 

Whiskey  drinking  is  the  greatest  evil  that  con 
fronts  the  human  race  at  this  time.  It  stains  the 
character,  it  is  the  advance  agent  of  poverty  and  dis 
tress,  it  impairs  the  intellect,  it  humiliates  kindred, 
it  alienates  friends,  and  eradicates  pride.  First  it 
exhilarates,  then  exalts,  then  banishes  responsibility; 


Jeter  C.  Pritchard  301 

but  when  the  reaction  comes  the  pendulum  swings 
just  as  far  the  other  way. 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  "the  debauch  is  a  re 
morseless  creditor  and  exacts  with  pitiless  extortion 
the  utmost  farthing.  There  is  no  escape  from  the 
debt,  and  it  can  only  be  discharged  in  cash  and  by 
prompt  payment,  the  only  legal  tender — regret,  re 
morse,  and  shame. 

"That  is  the  experience  of  every  drunkard,  even 
of  the  genius,  the  one  man  who  has  anything  that  is 
a  stagger  of  an  excuse  for  overindulging  in  the  flow 
ing  bowl.  The  world  is  getting  more  impatient  in 
this  behalf  daily.  The  evil  is  growing  less  and  less, 
and  a  time  will  come,  sooner  than  expected,  when  to 
work  a  man  must  not  impair  his  mental  and  physi 
cal  energies  nor  bankrupt  his  moral  character  by 
drink. 

"A  drunken  officer  on  the  field  of  battle  is  not  more 
out  of  place  than  a  drunken  engineer  on  a  railwav 
locomotive.  A  drunken  cashier  of  a  bank  is  as  much 
out  of  place  as  a  drunken  doctor  in  the  sick-room. 
A  drunken  lawyer  in  a  courthouse  is  not  more  out  of 
place  than  a  drunken  statesman  in  the  legislative 
hall." 

While  we  are  considering  prohibition  as  a  State 
issue,  it  is  nevertheless  a  national  issue,  and  the  day 
is  not  far  distant  when  it  will  assume  such  propor 
tions  as  to"  compel  Congress  to  give  us  absolute  and 
unconditional  prohibition  on  every  inch  of  American 
soil.  Our  efforts  in  North  Carolina,  like  those  of  the 
other  States,  are  but  the  beginning  of  the  end,  and 
this  great  movement,  inaugurated  as  it  is  by  the  good 
men  and  women  of  this  country,  will  grow  in  impor 
tance  until  our  national  legislators  will  be  compelled 
to  turn  aside  from  the  consideration  of  the  tariff,  the 
money  question,  and  all  the  other  important  questions 
with  which  they  have  been  dealing  and  take  up  this 


302  Oratory  of  the  South 

question  which,  in  my  humble  judgment,  more  vitally 
affects  the  welfare  of  the  home  and  the  fireside  than 
any  other  question  now  before  the  American  people. 


THE    BLUE    AND    THE    GRAY 

WILLIAM  O.  BRADLEY 

Formerly  Governor  of  Kentucky 

[Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  at  the  dedication  of 
the  Kentucky  Monument  in  the  Chickamauga  National 
Park,  May  7,  1899.  The  monument  bears  the  following 
inscription,  taken  from  a  message  by  Colonel  Bradley,  while 
Governor:  "As  we  are  united  in  life,  and  they  united  in 
death,  let  one  monument  perpetuate  their  deeds,  and  one  peo 
ple,  forgetful  of  all  asperities,  forever  hold  in  grateful  remem 
brance  all  the  glories  of  that  terrible  conflict  which  made 
all  men  free  and  retained  every  star  on  the  nation's  flag."] 

Standing  to-day  within  the  shadow  of  Missionary 
Ridge,  whose  crest  and  sides  but  little  more  than  a 
third  of  a  century  ago  were  lighted  with  glistening 
bayonets  and  the  fires  which  flashed  from  musketry 
and  cannon;  of  Lookout  Mountain,  where  contend 
ing  armies  mingled  the  colors  of  their  uniforms  with 
those  of  the  clouds  that  hung  about  them;  sur 
rounded  by  hills  and  valleys  across  which  swept 
armed  legions  to  victory  or  defeat;  within  sight  of 
the  spot  hallowed  by  the  blood  of  Croxton  and 
Helm — a  rush  of  glorious  memories  comes  over  us, 
causing  each  heart  to  throb  more  rapidly  and  each 
bosom  to  expand  with  patriotic  emotion.  Here  and 
there  are  beautiful  monuments  erected  by  the  various 
States  in  honor  of  their  gallant  sons,  and  to-day  Ken 
tucky  comes,  with  gentle  and  loving  hand,  to  unveil 
a  tribute  to  her  noble  brave,  placing  upon  the  graves 
of  the  dead  a  wreath  of  immortelles,  and  crowning 
alike  with  laurels  the  brows  of  all  who  survived  that 
terrible  conflict. 


William  O.  Bradley  303 

Every  land  has  its  traditions,  poetry,  and  song. 
In  each  some  monument,  with  mute  eloquence,  pro 
claims:  "Stop,  traveler,  thou  treadest  on  a  hero." 
History,  indeed,  is  but  the  epitome  of  patriotism,  and 
the  whole  earth  its  monument. 

But  to  be  enabled,  as  our  people,  to  point  to  nu 
merous  battlefields,  where  opposing  armies  of  embit 
tered  enemies  met  in  the  shock  of  battle  which  startled 
the  world,  and  in  a  third  of  a  century  thereafter, 
to  behold  the  remnants  of  those  armies  and  their  de 
scendants  congregating  upon  this  historic  spot  in  one 
common  brotherhood,  under  one  flag,  each  striving 
to  do  it  most  honor,  this  is  without  a  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  time,  and  its  like  will  never  be  seen  again. 
This  is  the  grandest  of  all  monuments:  a  monument 
composed  of  love  of  country  and  complete  reconcilia 
tion,  whose  base  is  as  broad  as  our  national  domain, 
and  from  whose  summit  angels  of  love  and  peace 
soar  heavenward  with  each  rising  sun. 

Many  monuments  have  been  erected  upon  battle 
fields  of  this  Republic,  but  it  has  remained  for  Ken 
tucky  to  be  the  first  of  all  the  States  with  tender  and 
motherly  devotion  to  erect  a  blended  monument  to 
all  her  sons;  a  monument  that  carries  with  it  and 
upon  it  complete  reconciliation  of  all  contending  pas 
sions. 

This  shaft  is  dedicated,  not  alone  to  those  who 
died  on  this  and  surrounding  fields,  but  to  the  gallant 
survivors  who,  when  the  frowning  clouds  of  war 
were  dispelled  by  the  bright  sunshine  of  peace,  re 
turned  to  their  homes  to  repair  broken  fortunes,  and 
are  to-day  numbered  among  the  best  and  most  dis 
tinguished  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Kentucky  has  evinced  no  partiality  in  this  evidence 
of  loving  remembrance.  It  carries  with  it  no  heart 
burning,  no  jealousy,  no  invidious  distinction.  It  is 
not  an  emblem  of  honor  to  the  victor  and  reproach 


304  Oratory  of  the  South 

to  the  vanquished — but  an  equal  tribute  to  the  worth 
of  all.  In  future,  the  descendants  of  chivalrous 
Confederates  may  proudly  gaze  upon  it,  realizing 
that  the  State  has  honored  their  ancestors,  and  that, 
although  their  cause  was  lost,  their  heroism  is  revered 
and  their  memories  perpetuated.  And  the  sons  of 
the  brave  men  who  fought  on  the  other  side  may 
look  upon  it  with  equal  pride,  feeling  that  it  fitly 
commemorates  the  gallant  deeds  of  their  illustrious 
ancestors  who  preserved  the  nation  from  destruction. 
May  it  endure  forever,  standing  guard  over  victor 
and  vanquished,  with  the  statue  that  surmounts  it, 
in  one  hand  holding  the  torch  of  liberty  shedding 
abroad  its  benign  rays;  in  the  other  grasping  the 
sword,  emblematical  of  the  strength  of  one  people, 
ready  and  anxious  at  all  times  to  uphold  the  integrity 
of  one  country,  and  to  drive,  wounded  and  bleeding, 
from  its  shores  any  insolent  foe  that  shall  ever  dare 
invade  them. 

The  heroism  of  Buckner,  Breckenridge,  Helm, 
Preston,  and  Lewis  is  the  inheritance  of  every  man 
who  wore  the  blue.  The  gallantry  of  Rousseau,  Crit- 
tenden,  Whittaker,  Croxton,  and  Price  the  inherit 
ance  of  every  man  who  wore  the  gray.  They  were 
all  Americans,  each,  from  his  standpoint,  contending 
for  what  he  believed  to  be  right;  and  now  that  we 
are  one  people  in  mind  and  heart,  their  common  glory 
is  our  common  heritage. 

A  famous  poem  represents  an  imaginary  midnight 
review  of  Napoleon's  army.  The  skeleton  of  a 
drummer  boy  arises  from  the  grave  and  with  bony 
fingers  beats  a  long,  loud  reveille.  At  the  sound  the 
legions  of  the  dead  Emperor  come  from  their  graves, 
from  every  quarter  where  they  fell.  From  Paris, 
from  Toulon,  from  Rivoli,  from  Lodi,  from  Hohen- 
linden,  from  Wagram,  from  Austerlitz,  from  the 
cloud-capped  summits  of  the  Alps,  from  the  shadows 


William  O.  Bradley  305 

of  the  Pyramids,  from  the  snows  of  Moscow,  from 
Waterloo — they  gather  in  one  vast  array,  with  Ney, 
McDonald,  Massena,  Duroc,  Kleber,  Murat,  Soult, 
and  other  marshals  in  command.  Forming,  they  si 
lently  pass  in  melancholy  procession  before  the  Em 
peror,  and  are  dispersed  with  France  as  the  password 
and  St.  Helena  as  the  challenge. 

Imagine  the  resurrection  of  the  two  great  armies 
of  the  Civil  War.  We  see  them  arising  from  Get 
tysburg,  from  the  Wilderness,  from  Shiloh,  from 
Missionary  Ridge,  from  Stone  River,  from  Chicka- 
mauga — yea,  from  an  hundred  fields — and  passing, 
with  their  great  commanders,  in  review  before  our 
martyred  President.  In  their  faces  there  is  no  dis 
appointment,  no  sorrow,  no  anguish,  but  they  beam 
with  light  and  hope  and  joy.  With  them  there  is  no 
St.  Helena,  no  exile,  and  they  are  dispersed  with 
Union  as  the  challenge  and  Reconciliation  as  the 
password. 

The  monument  dedicated  to-day  may,  in  the  rush 
of  years,  crumble  and  fall  into  dust,  but  around  the 
summits  of  Lookout  and  Missionary  Ridge,  like 
gathering  mists,  shall  remain  forever  the  memories 
of  these  historic  fields,  and  in  every  heart  shall  be  a 
monument  of  love,  and  strength,  and  patriotism, 
which  will  perpetuate,  through  all  coming  time,  the 
glories  of  that  great  conflict. 

Looking  into  the  future,  may  not  the  fond  hope 
be  indulged  that  in  the  end  our  country  may,  in  all 
things,  be  deliberate,  just,  and  wise;  that  our  flag 
may  wave  in  triumph,  feared  by  tyrants,  in  every 
land  and  on  every  sea;  that  beneath  its  folds  shall 
gather  the  oppressed  of  every  clime,  and  the  slave 
struggling  beneath  the  rod  of  oppression  feel  his 
chains  grow  lighter,  his  heart  leap  with  joy,  and  hail 
its  colors  as  a  deliverance;  that  nations  which  have 
been  bitten  by  the  serpent  of  rapacity  and  conquest 

20 


306  Oratory  of  the  South 

shall  look  upon  its  folds  and  be  healed,  as  those  who, 
with  faith,  looked  upon  the  brazen  serpent  that  was 
lifted  up  in  the  wilderness.  God  grant  that  ours  shall 
be  the  victory  of  enlightenment  and  liberty,  the  tri 
umph  of  right  over  might,  of  justice  over  injustice, 
of  humanity  over  cruelty  and  oppression,  until  em 
pires  shall  have  passed  away  and  the  nations  of  earth 
become  one. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  CIVIL  WAR 

JOSEPH  A.  M'CULLOUGH 

Of  the  Greenville  (S.  C.)  Bar 

[Extract  from  a  speech  on  "South  Carolina's  Contribution 
to  the  Civilization  of  the  Past,"  delivered  at  the  annual  din 
ner  of  the  South  Carolina  Society,  New  York  City,  March 
1 8,  1907-] 

In  reading  just  the  other  day  a  very  interesting 
serial  now  running  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  "The 
Spirit  of  the  Old  West  Point,"  Morris  Shaff  says: 
"As  early  as  1851  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi,  in 
their  provincial  egotism,  had  threatened  secession." 
One  would  infer  from  this  that  South  Carolina  and 
Mississippi  originated  the  doctrine.  Mr.  Shaff  does 
not  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  taking  this  step 
South  Carolina  only  put  into  practice  the  precepts  of 
Samuel  Adams,  Josiah  Quincy,  and  others  equally 
as  illustrious,  and  but  followed  the  example  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  which 
States  as  early  at  1814  held  secession  conventions  and 
elected  delegates  to  a  General  Conference  which  met 
in  Hartford,  and  which  convention  also  had  repre 
sentatives  from  the  States  of  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont.  He  does  not  mention  the  fact  that  she  but 
followed  the  later  example  of  Massachusetts,  which, 


Joseph  A.  McCullough  307 

in  1845,  when  Texas  was  seeking  for  admission  into 
the  Union,  declared  that  if  the  measure  were  success 
ful  it  would  tend  to  drive  the  Northern  States  into  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union.  He  does  not  tell  us  that 
after  South  Carolina  passed  the  ordinance  of  seces 
sion,  Horace  Greeley,  Wendell  Phillips,  and  others 
recognized  her  right  so  to  do. 

This  was  the  argument:  Great  Britain  had  de 
clared  each  colony  by  name  a  sovereign  and  independ 
ent  State;  that  sovereignty  was  not  relinquished  by 
either  the  articles  of  confederation  or  the  Constitu 
tion,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  carefully  preserved, 
both  by  the  manner  of  their  ratification  and  in  express 
language.  Those  clauses  of  the  Constitution  which 
gave  to  the  Federal  Court  jurisdiction  in  all  "cases" 
arising  under  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  as  clearly  shown  by  Calhoun,  applied 
only  to  a  technical  case  in  which  there  was  a  plain 
tiff  on  one  side  and  a  defendant  on  the  other.  A  sov 
ereign  State  could  not  be  sued  and,  therefore,  said 
clause  could  have  no  application  to  it.  If  a  govern 
ment  or  a  single  department  of  government  could  in 
terpret  finally  its  own  powers  or  take  without  hin 
drance  what  power  it  pleased,  it  may  as  well  originally 
have  been  invested  with  all  power  without  the  mock 
ery  of  verbal  limitations.  If  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  in  its  entirety,  had  no  authority  to  judge  of 
the  extent  of  its  own  powers,  how  could  a  single  de 
partment  of  that  government  have  such  authority? 
If  the  court  itself  could  not  be  constrained  by  its  own 
precedents,  how  could  it  be  expected  that  a  sovereign 
State  could  be  so  constrained?  If  the  States  were 
sovereign  originally  and  never  parted  with  that  sov 
ereignty,  then  it  necessarily  followed  that  the  sov 
ereign  was  the  judge  of  its  own  powers,  compacts, 
and  agreements.  No  man  is  a  rebel  or  traitor  who 


308  Oratory  of  the  South 

fights  in  defense  of  his  sovereign;    that  man  alone 
is  a  rebel  and  a  traitor  who  refuses  so  to  fight. 

Moved  by  these  arguments,  the  South  considered 
the  army  of  the  North  an  invasion;  and  she  there 
fore  fought  not  in  defense  of  slavery,  but  in  defense 
of  her  homes  and  her  firesides.  It  was  for  this  reason 
that  Timrod  did  not  cry  in  vain: 

"Hold  up  the  glories  of  thy  dead, 
Say  how  thy  elder  children  bled, 
And  point  to  Eutaw's  battle  bed — 
Carolina. 

"Tell  how  the  patriot's  soul  was  tried, 
And  what  his  dauntless  breast  defied, 
How  Rutledge  ruled  and  Laurens  died. 
Carolina. 

"Cry  till  thy  summons  heard  at  last, 
Shall  sound  like  Marion's  bugle  blast, 
Re-echoed  from  a  haunted  past, 
Carolina." 

New  York  had  double  the  military  population  of 
South  Carolina,  while  New  Hampshire  was  slightly 
greater,  yet  from  this  small  State  the  South  Caro 
linians  who  shouldered  arms  outnumbered  the  New 
Hampshire  men  more  than  two  to  one  and  exceeded 
New  York's  quota  by  more  than  29,000.  In  South 
Carolina  thirty-seven  out  of  every  forty-two  were 
able  to  enlist  and  fight,  and  they  did  so.  Time  for 
bids  that  I  should  recount  the  acts  of  heroism  which 
characterized  her  sons  in  that  memorable  struggle. 

"Countless  eyes  have  conned  their  story, 

Countless  hearts  grown  brave  thereby, 
Let  us  thank  the  God  of  glory, 
We  had  such  to  die." 

At  the  battle  of  First  Manassas  General  Bee,  who 
was  on  Jackson's  right,  rode  up  to  him  and  with  de- 


Joseph  A.  McCullough  309 

spairing  bitterness  exclaimed,  "General,  they  are 
beating  us  back."  "Then,"  said  Jackson,  calm  and 
curt,  "we  will  give  them  the  bayonet."  Bee  seemed 
to  catch  the  inspiration  of  his  determined  will,  and, 
galloping  back  to  the  broken  fragments  of  his  over 
tasked  command,  exclaimed  to  them:  "There  is 
Jackson  standing  like  a  stone  wall.  Rally  behind 
the  Virginians.  Let  us  determine  to  die  here  and  we 
will  conquer.  Follow  me."  At  this  trumpet  call  a 
few  score  of  his  men  re-formed  their  ranks.  Placing 
himself  at  their  head,  he  charged  the  dense  mass  of 
the  enemy  and  in  a  moment  fell  dead  with  his  face  to 
the  foe.  From  that  time  Jackson's  was  known  as 
the  "stone  wall  brigade,"  a  name  henceforward  im 
mortal  and  belonging  to  all  ages,  and  well  may  it 
cling  to  them,  for  it  was  born  amid  the  throes  of  a 
death  struggle  and  was  baptized  in  the  blood  of  one 
of  the  bravest  and  truest  of  men. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  last  century  a  memorable 
battle  was  fought  upon  the  plains  of  the  Danube. 
A  determined  charge  upon  the  Austrian  center  won 
the  day  for  France.  That  charge  was  due  very 
largely  to  the  heroism  and  example  of  a  private 
soldier,  who  there  fell.  Afterwards,  upon  the 
annual  parade  of  his  battalion,  when  the  name  of 
Latour  Duvergne  was  first  called,  the  oldest  ser 
geant  stepped  slowly  to  the  front,  and,  with  head 
uncovered,  answered,  "Died  upon  the  field  of 
battle."  In  the  Valhalla  beyond  the  grave,  where 
the  spirits  of  warriors  are  assembled,  when  upon  the 
roll  of  heroes  the  name  of  Barnard  Bee  is  reached, 
it  is  reserved  for  the  immortal  shade  of  Jackson  to 
step  forward  and  answer,  "Died  fighting  by  my  side 
in  defense  of  his  country's  rights." 

Then  there  is  the  brave  and  courtly  Butler,  the  in 
trepid  Gary,  and  that  "noblest  Roman  of  them  all," 
Wade  Hampton,  whose  last  words  but  breathed  the 


310  Oratory  of  the  South 

spirit  of  his  life,  "My  people,  white  and  black,  God 
bless  them  all  I" 

I  am  not  here  to  discuss  the  race  problem,  but  I 
am  here  to  say  that  if  there  be  such  a  problem  pecu 
liar  to  the  South  alone,  which  I  very  much  doubt, 
then  it  can  only  be  solved  in  the  spirit  of  this  prayer, 
and  I  believe  this  spirit  is  general  throughout  the 
South.  It  cannot  be  solved  by  legislation — -that 
method  was  proven  a  failure  by  the  adoption  of  the 
Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amendments  to  the  Con 
stitution.  People  cannot  be  prepared  in  a  moment — 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye — for  the  discharge  of  the 
high  and  responsible  duties  of  citizenship  by  the 
magic  of  law.  Neither  can  it  be  solved  by  force  and 
violence.  Mob  law  is  no  cure  for  brutality,  but  only 
aggravates  it  by  brutalizing  those  who  participate 
in  it. 

Patience,  education,  religion — the  application  of 
these  will  solve  all  problems  and  cure  all  the  evils  of 
society  in  the  fullness  of  time,  and  the  South  is  keep 
ing  pace  with  any  other  section  of  this  Union  in  these 
acquirements  and  accomplishments. 

The  South  recognizes  that  the  result  of  the  war 
was  in  accordance  with  the  Divine  Will,  and  that 
God  is  more  wise  in  his  purposes  than  man  is  in  the 
formation  of  his  compacts  and  agreements.  Nations 
are  unconsciously  impelled  towards  the  accomplish 
ment  of  purposes  of  which  they  little  dreamed,  and 
this  too  often  in  spite  of  constitutional  provisions 
and  what  are  conceived  to  be  fundamental  principles 
of  government.  Take  the  Louisiana  Purchase  and 
the  acquisition  of  the  Philippine  Islands  as  examples. 

To-day  no  people  are  more  loyal  to  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  than  are  we  of  South  Carolina. 

It  happened  at  the  Field  Hospital  of  Guasimas. 
Richard  Harding  Davis  is  authority  for  the  incident. 
A  half  dozen  Americans  lay  there  wounded.  A  con- 


Joseph  A.  McCullough  311 

tinual  chorus  of  moans  rose  through  the  tree  branches 
overhead.  The  surgeons,  with  arms  bared  and  hands 
dripping  and  clothes  literally  saturated  with  blood, 
were  preparing  the  wounded  for  the  journey  down  to 
Siboney.  It  was  a  doleful  group.  Amputation  and 
death  stared  its  members  in  their  gloomy  faces.  Sud 
denly  a  voice  started  softly : 

"My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, 
Of  thee  I  sing,"— 

Other  voices  took  it  up : 

"Land  where  our  fathers  died, 
Land  of  the  pilgrim's  pride " 

The  quivering,  quavering  chorus,  punctuated  by 
moans  and  made  spasmodic  by  pain,  trembled  up 
from  that  little  group  of  wounded  Americans  in  the 
midst  of  the  Cuban  solitude,  the  pluckiest,  the  most 
heartfelt  song  that  human  voices  ever  sang.  There 
was  one  voice  that  did  not  quite  keep  up  with  the 
others.  It  could  not  be  heard  until  the  others  had 
finished  with  the  line:  "Let  freedom  ring";  then 
halting,  struggling,  faint,  it  repeated  slowly: 

"Land — of — the   pilgrim's   pride — 
Let — freedom " 

The  last  word  was  a  woeful  cry.  One  more  son 
had  died  as  died  the  fathers,  but  with  this  differ 
ence — he  died  in  defense  of  that  flag  his  father 
fought. 


312  Oratory  of  the  South 

THE    THIRD    HOUSE 

FREDERICK  VV.  LEHMAN 
Of  the  St.  Louis  (Mo.)  Bar 

[Extract  from  a  Commencement  address  at  the  Missouri 
State  University,  June  6,  1906.] 

The  deterioration  of  public  morals  since  the  War 
is  not  due  to  the  degeneracy  of  the  people,  but  to  the 
intrusion  of  the  lobby,  and  all  it  represents,  as  an  ag 
gressive  force  into  public  affairs.  It  is  this  which 
prevents  our  government  of  the  people  and  for  the 
people  from  being  in  full  sense  a  government  by  the 
people,  and,  to  the  extent  of  its  malign  efficiency, 
marks  the  difference  in  our  private  and  public  stand 
ards  of  integrity. 

The  function  of  government  is  essentially  restric 
tive.  uThou  shalt  not"  is  the  ordinary  command 
ment  of  the  law.  Opposition  to  the  public  will,  there 
fore,  means  usually  rather  to  prevent  than  to  procure, 
and  to  delay  is  for  the  time  equivalent  to  success. 
The  various  special  interests  which  have  to  gain  or 
lose  by  legislation  are  coming  continually  into  closer 
alliance.  Public  utility  companies  are  being  amalaga- 
mated;  the  large  shippers  and  the  carriers  feel  de 
pendent  upon  one  another;  life  insurance  companies 
are  investors  in  different  enterprises;  the  same  men 
are  shareholders  in  many  companies,  and  thus  is  cre 
ated  an  extensive  community  of  interests,  which  gives 
to  each  in  its  dealings  with  the  lawmakers  the  full 
power  of  all. 

The  members  of  the  lobby  representing  these  inter 
ests  do  not  work  in  the  open,  nor  by  the  methods  of 
public  discussion.  They  attend  upon  the  legislature 
when  it  convenes,  and  continue  with  it  to  its  close. 
They  influence  its  organization  to  the  minutest  detail. 
The  humblest  clerk  of  the  humblest  committee  is  not 


Frederick  W.  Lehman  313 

beyond  their  providence  and  care.  They  side  with 
the  majority,  but  have  a  strong  leaning  to  the  mi 
nority,  for  they  know  that  the  minority  may  become 
the  majority.  They  are  clever,  capable,  and  unscru 
pulous;  of  sociable  disposition  and  engaging  man 
ners.  They  have  a  keen  insight  into  the  vices  and 
foibles  of  men;  have  misread  history  enough  to  be 
lieve  with  Walpole,  that  uall  men  have  their  price," 
and  are  learned  enough  in  the  law  to  fully  under 
stand  the  constitutional  guarantee  against  self-incrim- 
ination.  They  establish  pleasant  social  relations  with 
legislators,  but  in  their  utmost  cordiality  are  coldly 
calculating  results.  They  bestow  favors  with  a  free 
hand,  but  with  a  day  of  reckoning  ever  in  mind. 
They  traffic  in  the  most  intimate  confidences,  and  will 
exploit  the  weaknesses  they  discover,  either  by  pan 
dering  to  them  or  by  exposing  them.  Skilled  in  the 
mendacity  of  hint  and  insinuation,  they  speed  the 
work  of  debauching  their  victims  by  constant  dispar 
agement  of  the  men  who  are  above  their  reach.  If 
at  last  the  subtler  modes  of  corruption  fail,  they  re 
sort  to  the  gross  venality  of  bribery.  Of  course  such 
men  are  not  of  good  character,  but  to  be  efficient  they 
must  be  of  fair  reputation. 

The  essential  truth  of  these  statements  is  admit 
ted,  and  the  methods  described,  saving  that  of  direct 
bribery,  are  justified  by  those  who  employ  them. 

Andrew  Hamilton,  chief  lobbyist  of  the  great  life 
insurance  companies,  has  published  an  elaborate  de 
fense  of  his  course.  From  one  company  alone  he  had 
received  for  lobby  purposes  an  average  of  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  the  past  seven  years. 

Why  would  not  publicity  serve  every  purpose  of 
the  companies?  Mr.  Hamilton  speaks  of  their  busi 
ness  as  constituting  "the  most  extensive  commercial 
interests  in  the  world."  He  might  have  added  what 
was  more  to  the  purpose  of  the  question  he  was  con- 


314  Oratory  of  the  South 

sidering,  that  it  was  the  most  popular  business  in  this 
country.  More  of  our  people  are  directly  interested 
in  it  than  in  any  other  one  business.  There  are  more 
policyholders  than  farmers  in  the  United  States.  The 
majority  of  our  men  who  have  any  regard  for  those 
dependent  upon  them  make  some  provision  for  them 
in  the  shape  of  life  insurance.  The  aggregate  of  in 
demnity  covered  by  the  policies  in  force  in  our  va 
rious  companies  amounts  to  twenty  billions  of  dollars, 
and  the  policies  number  twenty-one  millions.  The 
companies  are  mere  trustees  of  the  assured.  No 
burden  can  be  laid  upon  them,  no  injustice  can  be 
done  them,  which  does  not  either  increase  the  burden 
of  the  policyholders  or  impair  the  provision  they 
have  made  for  their  families.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  a  deliberate  popular  purpose  to  injure  a 
business  of  this  character.  The  business  itself  having 
thus  the  marked  approval  of  the  public,  nothing  more 
was  needed  to  commend  the  companies  themselves  to 
the  public  than  honesty  and  publicity  in  management. 
And  yet  it  is  asserted  that  for  years  they  have  been 
threatened  with  oppressive  and  ruinous  legislation, 
and  that  twenty  millions  of  policyholders  elect  men 
to  make  laws  that  would,  in  their  effect,  destroy  the 
provision  they  have  made  for  their  families,  not  with 
out  great  sacrifice  and  self-denial.  The  voting  power 
of  the  country  is  in  the  hands  of  the  men  who  really 
own  the  insurance  business,  and  who  would  suffer 
most  from  its  destruction.  But  instead  of  informing 
these  men  that  their  interests  were  threatened,  and 
appealing  to  them  publicly  to  act  in  defense  of  them 
selves,  this  confidential  secret  service  was  organized 
in  every  State  of  the  Union,  and  their  ways  were  dark 
because  their  deeds  were  evil.  Publicity  came  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  to  prevent  it,  because  the  corrup 
tion  within  had  grown  to  proportions  past  conceal 
ment,  and  now,  with  the  truth  laid  bare,  we  see  what 


Frederick  W.  Lehman  315 

a  libel  upon  the  intelligence  and  integrity  of  the 
people  was  this  confidential  secret  service.  Now,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  years  in  company  management 
and  in  legislation,  is  the  business  recognized  for  its 
noble  utility,  and  the  company  relegated  to  its  place 
as  a  mere  agency  for  its  proper  conduct. 

Another  interest  conspicuous  in  the  lobby — stand 
ing  indeed  at  its  head — is  the  railroad ;  and  I  venture 
to  say  that  it  has  as  little  real  need  of  the  lobby  as 
the  life  insurance  company.  Here  again  the  business 
is  a  popular  one,  whether  the  companies  that  conduct 
it  are  so  or  not.  The  life  of  our  railroad  system  is 
seventy-six  years.  It  has  grown  during  that  time 
from  nothing  to  three  hundred  thousand  miles  of 
track,  with  a  capitalization  above  fifteen  billions  of 
dollars.  The  welfare  and  progress  of  the  country 
are  dependent  upon  the  development  and  extension 
of  its  means  of  transportation,  and  this  fact  has  al 
ways  been  recognized  by  our  people.  Aid  in  every 
form,  land  grants,  taxes,  municipal  bonds,  popular 
subscriptions,  has  been  freely  given  for  the  construc 
tion  of  the  roads,  and  the  legislation  concerning  the 
companies  has  been  marked  by  the  utmost  liberality. 
The  powers  and  privileges  conferred  were  ample  for 
every  purpose.  For  forty  years  there  was  no  re 
strictive  State  legislation  as  to  freight  rates,  and  for 
fifty-seven  years  there  was  no  Congressional  regula 
tion,  which  was  tantamount  to  a  declaration  that 
transportation  between  the  States  should  be  free  of 
governmental  control.  And  yet  the  railroad  com 
pany  has,  and  for  years  has  had,  its  lobbyists  working 
to  prevent  what  is  called  adverse  and  ruinous  legisla 
tion.  Instead  of  appealing  to  the  public  intelligence 
against  laws  which,  if  bad,  would  harm  the  people 
more  than  the  companies,  sinister  influences  were  re 
sorted  to,  and  the  public  will  was  thwarted,  while  the 
public  opinion  was  not  changed. 


316  Oratory  of  the  South 

In  the  ranks  of  the  lobby  the  railroad  representa 
tive  is  easily  the  first,  because  of  a  peculiar  gift  he 
possesses — the  pass.  Our  people  travel  much.  They 
travel  much  on  pleasure,  and  more  on  business,  and 
here  is  one  who,  whenever  they  set  out,  comes  along 
with  his  train  and  graciously  proffers  a  seat.  It  is  a 
mere  kindness,  a  courtesy,  if  you  please,  as  if  your 
neighbor  with  his  wagon  overtook  you  while  walking, 
and  offered  you  a  seat  by  his  side.  There  is  no 
bargaining  about  it,  nothing  stipulated  for  in  return, 
and  nothing  expected,  except  a  reciprocation  of  the 
courtesy,  which,  as  it  cannot  be  in  kind,  must  be  in 
something  else.  There  is  a  timeliness  about  it  all 
that  is  suggestive.  The  wagon  never  fails  to  be  on 
the  road  when  a  convention  or  legislative  body  is  as 
sembling,  and  there  need  be  no  walking  delegates  in 
our  politics.  The  use  of  the  pass,  somewhat  restricted 
at  first,  has  grown  until  every  man  believed  to  be  of 
any  significance  in  public  affairs  may  have  one  for 
the  taking.  In  this  State,  in  every  State  of  the 
Union,  are  men  enjoying  great  prominence  and  pos 
sessing  great  power,  simply  because  they  have  passes 
to  distribute.  They  are  not  students  of  economic 
questions,  they  are  not  men  of  public  spirit,  they  are 
without  achievement  in  any  calling,  they  have  no 
charm  of  eloquence — they  have  simply  the  gift  of 
the  pass.  Assassination,  it  is  said,  never  changed 
the  course  of  history;  bribery  never  did  so,  and 
neither  has  the  pass  done  so ;  but  they  have  each  and 
all  of  them  greatly  hindered  and  retarded  progress, 
and  made  more  difficult  the  work  of  reform ;  and  of 
the  three,  if  they  be  three,  the  pass  has  been  the  most 
potent. 

What  basis  is  there  for  the  charge  of  popular  prej 
udice  against  the  railroad  companies?  It  did  not 
exist  in  the  beginning.  For  the  greater  portion  of 
their  existence  they  were  left  free  to  order  their  own 


Frederick  W.  Lehman  317 

affairs.  Our  people  are  not  moved  by  abstractions. 
They  do  not  assert  the  power  of  control  for  the  mere 
sake  of  asserting  it.  They  believed  there  were  griev 
ances  which  demanded  redress,  that  the  liberty  al 
lowed  was  being  grossly  abused.  The  public  charac 
ter  of  the  companies  was  asserted  when  the  power  of 
eminent  domain  and  the  taxing  power  of  the  State 
were  invoked,  and  it  was  denied  when  the  use  of  the 
transportation  facilities  was  demanded  for  all  upon 
equal  terms.  Special  and  discriminating  rates  were 
given  to  individuals  and  to  localities,  one  man  or  one 
community  was  favored  at  the  expense  of  another, 
and  this  was  continued  for  so  long  that,  when  at  last 
it  was  challenged,  it  was  insisted  upon  by  the  com 
panies  as  a  rightful  exercise  of  their  powers.  To 
maintain  these  evils,  an  evil  system  of  controlling 
public  action  was  employed,  and  the  advocate  of  the 
railroads  was  called  into  service,  not  upon  the  hust 
ings  to  influence  the  opinions  of  the  people,  but  in  the 
legislative  lobbies  to  determine  the  votes  of  their  rep 
resentatives. 

The  result  of  experiment  amply  justifies  govern 
mental  supervision  and  regulation  of  every  business 
in  which  men  are  constrained  by  the  methods  of  mod 
ern  life  to  have  part,  and  into  which  they  cannot 
make  scrutiny  for  themselves,  but  must  deal  upon 
faith.  Liberty,  where  others  are  involved,  must  be 
regulated  by  law.  As  well  talk  of  humanity  revert 
ing  to  the  savagery  of  the  Stone  Age  as  going  back 
in  government  to  the  simple  ways  of  the  early  Repub 
lic.  The  old  question,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?" 
must  be  answered  more  emphatically  than  ever  in  the 
affirmative. 

Patriotism  is  a  universal  duty,  and  upon  none  does 
it  rest  with  more  serious  obligation  than  upon  the 
scholar.  "The  whole  art  of  politics,"  said  Jeffer 
son,  "consists  in  being  honest."  Not  that  honesty 


318  Oratory  of  the  South 

of  itself  will  discover  the  solution  of  every  politi 
cal  and  economical  problem,  but  honesty  does  meas 
ure  the  full  duty  of  man,  and  when  the  problems  of 
life  are  addressed  with  a  single  purpose  to  find  their 
right  solution,  the  task  is  more  than  half  accom 
plished.  But  this  honesty  must  be  active,  and  not 
passive.  It  must  engage  in  the  work  of  citizenship, 
and  not  stand  aloof.  The  day  of  romance  in  our 
history  may  be  gone,  but  life  has  not  lost  its  worth. 
Its  demands  will  be  even  more  exacting  and  more  ex 
alting,  it  will  require  ever  more  the  sacrifice  that 
makes  no  spectacle,  the  well-doing  that  wins  no  ap 
plause.  This  nation  has  withstood  the  shock  of  for 
eign  war,  and  the  greater  shock  of  bloody  dissension 
among  its  own  people.  It  need  not  fear  either  the 
invasion  or  the  immigration  of  Goth  or  Hun  or  Van 
dal.  There  is  for  it  a  Yellow  Peril,  but  its  menace  is 
not  from  the  Orient.  Its  dangers  come  from  its  own 
people,  and  with  them  are  all  the  hopes  of  its  deliv 
erance. 

THE    MAGNA    CHARTA 

URIAH  M.  ROSE 

Of  the  Little  Rock  (Ark.)  Bar;   formerly  President  of  the 
American  Bar  Association 

[The  concluding  part  of  an  address  before  the  Pennsyl 
vania  State  Bar  Association,  June  25,  1901.] 

Of  all  the  triumphs  of  light  over  darkness  the 
Magna  Charta  stands  conspicuous.  In  this  hetero- 
genous  world  few  are  the  great  triumphs  that  are 
not  stained  with  blood,  and  that  do  not  bring  in  their 
train  some  kind  of  disappointment  or  disaster.  But 
the  revolution  inaugurated  by  the  Magna  Charta 
was  the  greatest  and  the  most  peaceful  that  has  ever 
been  known.  No  revolutionary  tribunal  was  estab- 


Uriah  M.  Rose  319 

lished  in  Westminster  Hall,  no  guillotine  erected  at 
Charing  Cross.  The  Tower  was  not  destroyed  by  a 
howling  mob,  intent  on  murder,  to  fix  the  date  of  an 
anniversary  for  national  rejoicing.  The  school  for 
kings  endowed  at  Runnymede  has  been  perpetuated; 
it  represents  the  law,  and  is  only  terrible  for  the  ene 
mies  of  liberty. 

Strange  thoughts  come  to  one  that  looks  at  the  an 
cient  Charter  in  the  British  Museum.  Shakespeare 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  Jack  Cade  these  words: 

"Is  not  this  a  lamentable  thing, 
That   of   the  skin   of   an   innocent   lamb   should   be    made 

parchment ; 
That  parchment  being  scribbled  o'er,  should  undo  a  man?" 

So  this  parchment  on  which  the  Great  Charter  is 
written  is  the  skin  of  an  innocent  lamb  that  once 
bleated  in  the  English  fields,  which  being  scribbled 
o'er  with  words  of  magical  import,  written  in  a  lan 
guage  long  since  dead,  while  it  brought  the  heads  of 
Laud  and  Strafford  and  Charles  to  the  block,  has 
given  life  and  hope  to  the  oppressed,  has  opened  the 
prison  door  for  the  persecuted  and  the  friendless,  and 
shall  do  so  again  for  all  generations,  world  without 
end.  What  a  strange  potency  in  this  little  sheet  of 
parchment.  A  breath  of  wind  might  blow  it  away. 
But  the  head  of  the  church  on  earth  had  invoked  the 
wrath  of  heaven  upon  it,  kings  had  renounced  it, 
physical  fire  had  charred  it,  and  in  the  irony  of  fate  a 
pair  of  tailor's  shears  had  threatened  it;  and  yet  here 
it  remains,  powerful  and  indestructible  as  ever,  an 
nouncing  its  deathless  and  indelible  message,  speaking 
from  eternity  to  eternity.  This  little  sheet  of  shriveled 
parchment  has  revolutionized  the  history  of  the 
world.  Without  it  the  growth  of  England  and  the 
political  existence  of  America  would  never  have  been. 

If  we  confine  our  attention  to  England  alone  how 


320  Oratory  of  the  South 

great  has  been  the  change !  Standing  to-day  on  the 
battlements  of  the  Norman  keep  at  Windsor  one 
sees  unrolled  before  him  a  rural  landscape  of  wide 
extent,  whose  quiet  beauty  is  not  surpassed  the  whole 
world  over.  The  castle,  gray  with  age,  is  the  most  im 
posing  relic  of  the  feudal  time ;  the  home  of  the  Eng 
lish  sovereigns  for  eight  hundred  years.  Its  massive 
bastions  and  towers  produce  an  impression  of 
strength,  reminding  us  that  here  for  ages  the  prin 
ciple  of  monarchy  has  symbolized  itself  in  enduring 
stone.  But  the  prison  beneath,  where  Lady  Bramber 
and  her  son  were  starved  to  death,  where  a  Scottish 
king  and  many  others  pined  in  captivity  in  the  ages 
gone  by,  is  tenantless;  and  all  around  on  the  open 
lawns  the  green  grass,  the  unfolding  flowers,  the 
waving  trees,  the  clinging  vines,  the  absence  of  mili 
tary  signs  and  emblems,  declare  that  if  this  is  the 
home  of  royalty,  it  is  the  home  of  a  royalty  that  is  no 
longer  an  object  of  dread  and  terror,  but  a  royalty 
which,  however  high,  is  peacefully  sheltered  under 
the  wing  of  the  law.  As  the  eye  wanders  where  the 
gleaming  river  cleaves  its  emerald  banks,  two  vil 
lages  are  seen  near  together,  some  miles  away.  These 
are  the  villages  of  Egham  and  Staines.  Between 
Staines  and  Windsor  the  silver  current  of  the  river 
is  seen  to  divide  so  as  to  enclose  a  small  island,  a  gem 
set  in  its  rim  of  shining  waters.  On  the  island  a 
cottage  from  which  a  column  of  white  smoke  curls 
upward  in  the  sunshine  above  a  clump  of  trees.  Well 
may  the  eye  rest  on  that  vision  with  a  sense  of  pride 
and  rapture,  for  there  the  greatest  victory  of  all 
time  was  won;  and  a  glory  hovers  over  that  field 
that  never  shone  even  on  Marathon,  for  that  island 
is  Magna  Charta  Island,  and  the  valley  is  the  valley 
of  Runnymede.  Peaceful  as  it  seems  to-day,  it  was 
there  that  the  embattled  barons  marshaled  their 
hosts  and  held  King  John  at  bay. 


Uriah  M.  Rose  321 

The  long  series  of  councils  held  at  Runnymede, 
known  now  only  by  vague  tradition,  were  closed  when 
the  barons  dispersed.  They  had  builded  better  than 
they  knew;  and  humanity  had  been  baptized  into  a 
higher  life.  Kings  and  priests  might  say  what  they 
pleased  about  the  great  Charter;  but,  being  once 
sealed,  it  entered  on  an  independent  existence  of  its 
own.  The  mighty  words  once  spoken  could  never  be 
recalled.  Henceforth  the  Charter  was  a  part  of 
man's  inalienable  inheritance.  Generations  would 
come  and  go,  but  the  work  of  the  barons  was  like 
the  Bass  Rock,  around  which  the  northern  seas  may 
rage  and  break  in  vain.  The  indispensable  doctrine 
of  personal  liberty  came  into  the  world,  like  Minerva, 
full  armed  from  the  brain  of  Jupiter.  The  very 
phrases  of  the  Great  Charter  remain  our  watchwords 
yet.  It  is  not  only  in  England  and  its  vast  posses 
sions,  and  in  America,  that  its  stimulating  influence 
has  been  felt — other  nations  have  kindled  their 
torches  at  this  great  beacon  light.  It  has  built  up 
many  things  of  priceless  value,  and  has  destroyed 
many  things  that  needed  to  be  destroyed.  It  was  the 
clarion  blast  that  announced,  though  afar  off,  the  de 
cay  and  death  of  the  feudal  system,  the  coming  of  a 
new  order  of  things,  when  the  shackles  should  fall 
from  serf  and  retainer,  when  the  people  should  ap 
pear  on  the  scene  of  action  and  take  charge  of  the 
helm  of  state ;  and  when  the  proudest  claim  of  baron 
or  king  should  be  subordinate  to  the  majesty  of  the 
law.  It  foretold  the  day  when  liberty  should  be  the 
birthright  of  every  child  that  is  born,  and  when  every 
man  and  woman  should  have  the  right  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience.  It  in 
augurated  freedom  of  speech  and  that  reign  of  free 
institutions  which,  transplanted  to  all  parts  of  the 
globe,  have  proved  to  be  equally  well  suited  to  every 
zone  and  to  every  climate. 


322  Oratory  of  the  South 

No  one  can  sum  up  the  debt  we  owe  to  the  Magna 
Charta,  the  one  great  product  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
We  look  back  with  feelings  of  aversion  and  pity  to 
that  dark  and  troubled  period ;  to  its  insane  crusades, 
to  its  fanatical  intolerance,  to  its  pedantic  and  barren 
literature,  to  its  scholastic  disputes,  to  its  cruelty,  ra 
pine,  and  bloodshed.  But  the  genius  that  presides 
over  human  destiny  never  sleeps ;  and  it  was  precisely 
in  that  most  sterile  and  unpromising  age  that  the 
groundwork  was  laid  for  all  that  is  valuable  in  mod 
ern  civilization.  As  an  unborn  forest  sleeps  uncon 
sciously  in  an  acorn's  cup,  all  the  creations  and  all  the 
potentialities  of  that  civilization  lay  enfolded  in  the 
guaranty  of  personal  liberty  and  of  the  supremacy 
of  the  law  that  was  secured  at  Runnymede.  The 
various  bills  and  petitions  of  right,  and  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act,  while  they  have  given  new  sanctions  to 
liberty,  are  but  echoes  of  the  Great  Charter;  and  our 
Declaration  of  Independence  is  but  the  Magna 
Charta  writ  large,  and  expanded  to  meet  the  wants 
of  a  new  generation  of  freemen,  fighting  the  battle 
of  life  beneath  other  skies. 

"Worth  all  the  classics!"  Yes,  the  classics  that 
have  survived,  and  the  classics  that  have  perished. 
Dear  as  might  be  to  us  the  lost  books  of  Livy,  whose 
pictured  page  is  torn  just  where  its  highest  interest 
begins,  or  some  song  of  Homer,  which,  now  lost  in 
space,  shall  charm  the  ear  and  bewitch  the  human 
heart  no  more,  we  could  not  exchange  for  them  a 
single  word  of  those  uncouth  but  grand  old  sentences, 
which,  having  taken  the  wings  of  the  morning,  have 
incorporated  themselves  with  almost  every  system  of 
laws  in  Christendom,  and  which  still  ring  out  in  our 
American  constitutions  with  a  sound  like  that  of  the 
trampling  of  armed  men  marching  confidently  up 
to  battle ;  words  which  for  ages  have  stayed  the  hand 
of  tyranny,  and  which  have  extended  their  protection 


Edward  W.  Carmack  323 

over  the  infant  sleeping  in  its  cradle,  over  the  lonely, 
the  desolate,  the  sorrowful,  and  the  oppressed.  Ut 
tered  by  unwilling  lips,  and  believed  by  the  wretch 
from  whom  it  was  extorted  that  it  had  scarcely  an 
hour  to  live,  the  Magna  Charta  marks  an  epoch  in 
the  annals  of  mankind.  It  began  a  revolution  that 
has  never  gone  backward  for  a  single  moment,  and 
was  the  precursor  of  that  civilization  the  dawn  of 
which  our  eyes  have  looked  upon  with  joy  and  pride 
and  whose  full  meridian  splendor  can  be  foreseen  by 
God  alone. 


EULOGY  OF  WILLIAM  B.  BATE 

EDWARD  W.  CARMACK 

United  States  Senator  from  Tennessee 

[Condensed  from  a  memorial  address  on  the  life,  char 
acter,  and  public  services  of  Hon.  William  R.  Bate,  late  a 
Senator  from  the  State  of  Tennessee,  delivered  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  January  17,  1907.] 

Mr.  President: 

It  is  with  a  feeling  of  peculiar  tenderness  and  rev 
erence  that  I  approach  the  sad  duty  of  this  occasion. 
I  was  born  within  a  mile  of  General  Bate's  home 
stead,  lived  among  his  friends  and  neighbors,  listened 
with  rapt  attention  to  stories  of  camp  and  conflict 
as  they  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  heroic  veterans  who 
were  his  followers  and  comrades  in  battle,  and  from 
my  early  boyhood  was  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit 
of  personal  devotion  to  him  that  prevailed  among 
the  people  of  his  native  county.  In  later  years  cir 
cumstances  brought  us  much  together,  and  I  became 
his  personal  friend  and  supporter  in  all  his  political 
contests.  My  personal  knowledge  of  the  man  re 
vealed  inborn  qualities  which  strengthened  my  love 


324  Oratory  of  the  South 

for  him  and  held  it  to  the  last;  and  the  affectionate 
relations  that  have  existed  and  do  exist  between  our 
families  are  among  the  most  precious  blessings  of  life. 

Mr.  President,  if  in  youth  one  could  be  permitted 
to  shape  the  end  of  his  life  he  could  not  wish  for  it  a 
happier  termination  than  that  which  closed  the  mor 
tal  career  of  William  B.  Bate.  Full  of  years,  full  of 
fame,  and  full  of  honors,  he  closed  a  life  crowned 
with  domestic  peace  and  happiness,  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  his  people,  and  that  conscientiousness  of 
duty  faithfully  done  which  more  than  all  things  else 
gives  sweetness  to  life  and  takes  bitterness  from  death. 
By  the  sternest  code  of  honor  he  lived  a  life  of  recti 
tude.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  neither  to  the 
right  nor  to  the  left,  under  whatever  temptation, 
throughout  a  long  life,  full  of  action,  full  of  excite 
ment,  full  of  strivings  and  honorable  ambitions,  did 
he  ever  swerve  by  the  breadth  of  a  hair  from  the 
path  of  honor.  In  addition  to  all  this,  and  higher 
and  better  than  all  this,  the  Christian's  faith  and 
hope  were  his;  so  that  his  peaceful  death,  met  with 
a  calm  and  quiet  resignation,  was  a  fitting  close  to 
such  a  life,  a  happy  realization  of  the  prophet's 
prayer,  "Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and 
let  my  last  end  be  like  his."  He  died  as  one  who 
knew  that  the  gates  of  death  were  but  the  portals  of 
immortal  life. 

William  B.  Bate  was  born  in  the  old  blue-grass 
county  of  Sumner,  a  county  still  famed  for  the  sterl 
ing  character  of  its  citizenship  and  the  generous  hos 
pitality  of  its  people.  The  world  cannot  produce  a 
nobler  type  of  men  and  women  than  may  there  be 
found.  They  are  worthy  of  the  ancestry  from  whom 
they  sprang.  General  Bate  was  the  son  of  a  Revo 
lutionary  soldier  and  came  from  the  old  pioneer 
stock  who  in  the  early  history  of  the  State  invaded 
this  region  with  ax  and  rifle  to  hew  through  the  pri- 


Edward  W.  Carmack  325 

meval  forests  a  pathway  for  civilization.  They 
were  men  of  heroic  heart  and  simple  faith.  A  faith 
in  God  that  knew  no  doubts  or  questionings  gave 
them  the  fortitude  to  dare  the  terrors  of  the  wilder 
ness.  On  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  struggling  with 
wild  beasts  and  with  yet  wilder  men,  they  acquired 
the  fundamental  qualities  that  go  to  make  the  manners 
and  the  character  of  a  gentleman — respect  for  one's 
self  and  for  others.  General  Bate  was  born  near  Old 
Bledsoe's  Lick  and  within  sight  of  the  old  fort  where 
the  early  settlers  found  protection  while  yet  the  white 
man  had  to  make  good  his  title  to  the  land  against 
his  savage  foe.  Here  he  spent  the  years  of  his  boy 
hood  until — a  fatherless  lad — he  determined  to  go 
forth  alone  to  match  himself  against  the  world.  He 
early  developed  a  taste  for  politics,  and  as  a  member 
of  the  legislature  and  Presidential  elector  on  the 
Breckinridge-Lane  ticket  he  began  his  political  ca 
reer,  a  career  which  had  already  given  promise  of 
greatness  when  interrupted  by  the  outbreak  of  the 
War  of  Secession. 

In  politics  he  lived  and  died  a  Democrat — not 
simply  in  the  sense  that  he  supported  the  nominees 
of  his  party,  but  because  he  was  a  thorough  believer 
in  its  great  fundamental  principles.  Like  the  late 
Isham  G.  Harris,  he  clung  with  tenacity  to  his  party's 
earliest  creed  and  felt  a  sense  of  resentment  for  every 
deviation  from  the  Jeffersonian  principle  of  a  strict 
construction  of  the  Constitution. 

In  his  service  here  he  was  faithful,  industrious, 
diligent,  a  close  student  of  the  business  of  the  Sen 
ate,  having  a  clear  understanding  of  the  questions  of 
the  day,  and  when  he  chose  to  do  so  he  presented  his 
views  with  great  ability,  learning,  and  power.  A 
speech  on  the  tariff  question  in  the  early  years  of  his 
service  showed  him  to  be  a  profound  student  of  na 
tional  taxation,  and  his  speech  upon  what,  in  our 


326  Oratory  of  the  South 

part  of  the  country,  was  usually  denominated  the 
"force  bill,"  was  liberally  quoted  from  one  end  of  the 
land  to  the  other. 

But  above  all  other  qualities,  he  bore  among  his 
associates  here  a  reputation  for  honor  and  integrity 
that  was  without  a  stain.  No  suspicion  of  an  un 
worthy  motive  was  ever  imputed  to  any  act  of  his. 
No  man  here  or  elsewhere  ever  felt  one  moment's 
doubt  as  to  the  absolute  rectitude  of  his  intentions. 

It  is  a  fact  significant  of  the  happy  passing  of  old 
issues,  of  old  passions  and  prejudices,  that  among  the 
most  devoted  friends  he  had  in  this  Chamber  were 
those  who  wore  the  blue  when  he  wore  the  gray,  who 
fought  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  when  he  fought 
under  the  Stars  and  Bars;  with  whom  he  contended 
for  life  and  death  in  the  awful  shock  of  battle.  There 
are  no  truer  friends  than  those  who  have  been  hon 
orable  foes,  and  the  handclasp  that  is  made  above 
the  grave  of  kindred  dead  is  never  broken.  Even 
as  he  loved  and  honored  those  who  fought  by  his 
side,  he  loved  and  honored  those  who  confronted 
them.  And  while  old  associations,  the  memory  of 
common  sorrows  and  of  common  sufferings,  bound 
him  as  with  hooks  of  steel  to  his  comrades  in  arms, 
the  story  of  that  great  war  was  to  him  a  lesson  of 
American  prowess  and  American  valor,  which,  united 
under  a  common  flag,  could  withstand  the  world  in 
arms.  The  Confederacy  had  no  braver  knight  than 
William  B.  Bate  when  war  was  flagrant  in  the 
land;  the  Union  had  no  truer  friend  since  the  war 
clouds  were  lifted  and  the  waiting  sunlight  came 
down  to  bless  the  land  which  is  the  common  hope, 
as  it  is  the  common  heritage,  of  us  all. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  true  that  "peace  hath  her  vic 
tories  no  less  renowned  than  war."  William  B.  Bate 
was  one  of  those  who  came  back  from  the  war,  sur 
veyed  the  scene  of  red  ruin  and  blank  desolation  that 


Charles  J.  Bonaparte  327 

overspread  his  country,  and  then  with  heart  reso 
lute  and  undismayed  faced  the  awful  problems  of 
that  awful  time.  All  the  heroism  displayed  through 
four  blazing  years  of  war  paled  into  insignificance  by 
the  side  of  that  story  of  patience,  constancy,  and  for 
titude  which  enabled  a  weaponless  and  uncaptained 
army  of  disfranchised  citizens  to  win  victory  even 
from  defeat. 

In  private  life  General  Bate  was  simple,  plain,  de 
void  of  artifice  or  ostentation.  Unusually  blessed  in 
his  domestic  relations,  he  found  his  happiest  hours 
around  the  family  hearthstone  and  in  the  company 
of  congenial  friends;  but  in  all  the  walks  of  life  the 
same  high  courage  and  noble  qualities  which  won 
him  honor  and  fame  in  field,  in  forum,  and  in  Senate 
were  his.  And  when  he  came  to  meet  the  inevitable 
hour  these  qualities  rose  supreme,  and  he  blenched 
not  when  he  stood  face  to  face'  with  the  king  of  ter 
rors.  Over  him  the  grave  could  win  no  victory  and 
for  him  death  had  no  sting.  As  in  the  ardor  of  his 
youthful  prime  he  had  faced  death  without  a  tremor, 
with  all  the  courage  of  a  soldier,  so  at  the  last  he  met 
death  with  all  the  fortitude  of  a  Christian.  At  peace 
with  his  fellow-man,  with  his  conscience,  and  his 
God,  "he  gave  his  honors  to  the  world  again,  his 
blessed  part  to  Heaven,  and  slept  in  peace." 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL 

CHARLES  J.  BONAPARTE 

Of   the  Baltimore    (Md.)    Bar;    Attorney-General   of   the1 
United  States 

[The  introduction  and  conclusion  of  an  oration  delivered 
on  "John  Marshall  Day,"  February  4,  1901,  before  the 
Maryland  State  Bar  Association,  at  Baltimore,  Md.] 

For  all  time  Marshall  is  our  great  Chief  Justice: 
as  such  he  lives  to-day  in  American  jurisprudence; 


328  Oratory  of  the  South 

his  words  yet  inspire,  his  mind  yet  molds  our  judg 
ments,  our  laws,  the  very  thoughts  of  our  people. 
He  is  so  completely  the  Chief  Justice,  not  only  of 
our  national  history,  but  of  our  daily  national  life, 
that  to  think  of  him  otherwise  than  as  Chief  Justice 
calls  for  a  conscious  effort.  We  half  assume  that  for 
us,  at  least,  his  life  began  one  hundred  years  ago 
when,  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  he  was  installed  as  the 
first  magistrate  of  our  first  court.  But  the  forty-six 
years  he  had  then  lived  made  up  a  life  so  busy,  so 
useful,  and  so  honorable  that  had  it  ended  a  century 
since  he  were  yet  one  among  those  few  men  of  whom 
all  Americans  may  be  reasonably  proud,  to  whom  all 
Americans  may  be  justly  grateful.  In  youth  a  faith 
ful  and  gallant  soldier,  in  early  and  mature  manhood 
a  citizen  called  again  and  again  to  arduous  public 
service ;  he  was  also,  when  chosen  for  his  great  office, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  and  the  most  honored  law 
yers  of  his  time. 

His  success  at  the  bar  was  not  the  fruit  of  any 
marked  advantages  in  legal  education:  so  far  as  is 
known,  a  single  course  of  lectures  at  William  and 
Mary  College,  delivered  by  Mr.  Wythe,  afterwards 
Chancellor,  supplemented  by  such  meager  oppor 
tunities  for  private  study  as  were  afforded  by  a  few 
months'  intermission  in  his  military  career,  sufficed 
to  qualify  him  for  a  license  to  practice.  Indeed,  al 
though  one  so  well  fitted  as  Horace  Binney  to  speak 
on  the  subject  has  said  of  him,  "His  learning  was 
great  and  his  faculty  of  applying  it  of  the  very  first 
order,"  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  second  part 
of  this  description  is  far  more  accurate  than  the  first, 
and  that  his  truly  wonderful  skill  in  making  use  of 
what  he  knew  led  those  who  heard  him  to  believe, 
often  against  his  own  disclaimer,  that  he  knew  far 
more  than  his  well  filled  life  had  ever  left  him  time 
to  learn.  Justice  Story,  his  colleague  for  nearly  a 


Charles  J.  Bonaparte  329 

quarter  of  a  century,  thus  admirably  depicts  his  char 
acter  and  acquirements : 

uThat  he  possessed  an  uncommon  share  of  jurid 
ical  learning  would  naturally  be  presumed  from  his 
large  experience  and  inexhaustible  diligence.  Yet  it 
is  due  to  truth  as  well  as  to  his  memory  to  declare 
that  his  juridical  learning  was  not  equal  to  that  of 
many  of  the  great  masters  in  the  profession,  living 
or  dead,  at  home  or  abroad.  He  yielded  at  once 
to  their  superiority  of  knowledge,  as  well  in  the 
modern  as  in  the  ancient  law  .  .  .  The  original 
bias,  as  well  as  the  choice,  of  his  mind  was  to  general 
principles  and  comprehensive  views,  rather  than  to 
technical  or  recondite  learning.  He  loved  to  ex 
patiate  upon  the  theory  of  equity;  to  gather  up  the 
expansive  doctrines  of  commercial  jurisprudence;  and 
to  give  a  rational  cast  even  to  the  most  subtle  dogmas 
of  the  common  law  ...  It  was  a  matter  of  sur 
prise  to  see  how  easily  he  grasped  the  leading  prin 
ciples  of  a  case,  and  cleared  it  of  all  its  accidental 
encumbrances;  how  readily  he  evolved  the  true 
points  of  the  controversy,  even  when  it  was  manifest 
that  he  never  before  had  caught  even  a  glimpse  of 
the  learning  upon  which  it  depended.  He  seized, 
as  it  were  by  intuition,  the  very  spirit  of  juridical 
doctrines,  though  cased  up  in  the  armor  of  centuries ; 
and  he  discussed  authorities  as  if  the  very  minds  of 
the  judges  themselves  stood  disembodied  before 
him." 

No  one,  in  fact,  can  have  read  intelligently  Mar 
shall's  opinions  without  noting  how  sparingly  he 
refers  to  authorities  in  support  of  his  views:  in  the 
vast  majority  of  instances  he  speaks  of  adjudged 
cases  only  to  distinguish  them  from  that  before  the 
Court.  A  single  decision,  at  most  two  or  three,  al 
ways,  however,  strictly  apposite,  will  be  occasionally 
cited,  but  any  one  of  the  many  modern  opinions, 


330  Oratory  of  the  South 

dealing  with  questions  of  incalculably  less  importance 
and  less  difficulty,  contains  more  citations  than  the 
aggregate  of  all  he  delivered  during  thirty-five  years. 

Marshall's  professional  career  was  repeatedly 
sacrificed  to  the  public  interest.  In  these  days  we 
smile  when  told  that  an  office  has  sought  the  man 
who  fills  it,  smile  somewhat  sadly,  somewhat  bitterly ; 
why,  we  know  too  well;  but  in  his  life  we  see  this 
done,  not  once,  but  often,  not  in  semblance,  but  in 
grave  and  painful  truth.  A  man  of  very  moderate 
fortune,  with  many  just  and  heavy  calls  upon  his 
means,  he  frequently  interrupted  his  lucrative  prac 
tice,  sometimes  altogether,  sometimes  in  great  part, 
to  serve  his  fellow-countrymen  in  exigencies  which, 
to  his  mind,  left  no  choice,  always  to  strengthen  his 
claims  to  their  gratitude,  but  always  to  leave  him,  in 
worldly  goods,  a  poorer  man.  He  refused  public 
service  whenever  his  conscience  tolerated  the  refusal: 
he  declined  to  be  Attorney  General,  Minister  to 
France,  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court;  he 
announced  more  than  once  his  permanent  retirement 
from  public  life  and  his  purpose  to  devote  himself 
thereafter  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  the 
words  of  Binney:  "Office,  power  and  public  honors 
he  never  sought.  They  sought  him,  and  never  found 
him  prepared  to  welcome  them,  except  as  a  sense  of 
duty  commanded."  But  the  same  "sense  of  duty" 
which  had  once  bidden  him  draw  his  sword  in  his 
country's  cause  forbade  him  to  stand  aloof  whenever 
he  was  called  too  clearly  for  his  modesty  to  question 
the  call,  to  serve  her  in  peace  as  he  had  served  her 
in  war;  and  this  was  too  often  for  his  personal  in 
terest  and  his  professional  prosperity.  Marshall 
was  a  great  lawyer,  who  had  been  greater  had  the 
people's  just  sense  of  his  merits  allowed  him  to  be  a 
lawyer  only. 

He  was  Secretary  of  State  when,  in  the  autumn 


Charles  J.  Bonaparte  331 

of  1800,  Chief  Justice  Ellsworth  resigned  his  office. 
President  Adams  sought  Marshall's  advice  as  to  a 
fit  successor  and,  at  his  suggestion,  requested  the  for 
mer  Chief  Justice,  John  Jay,  to  resume  his  seat;  when 
Mr.  Jay  declined,  Marshall  recommended  the  choice 
of  Mr.  Justice  Patterson,  but  the  President  preferred 
another.  In  his  own  words,  he  had  in  mind  for  the 
office  "a  gentleman  in  full  vigor  of  middle  life,  in 
the  full  habits  of  business,  and  whose  reading  of  the 
science  of  the  law  is  fresh  in  his  mind."  On  Janu 
ary  31,  1 80 1,  he  wrote  to  the  then  Secretary  of 
War,  desiring  him  "to  execute  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State  so  far  as  to  affix  the  seal  of  the  United  States 
to  the  enclosed  commission  to  the  present  Secretary 
of  State,  John  Marshall,  of  Virginia,  to  be  Chief 
Justice  of  the  United  States." 

Of  all  the  men  in  high  office  who  listen  to-day  to 
his  eulogies,  how  many,  I  ask  you,  will  have  life,  will 
have  even  being,  in  the  thoughts  of  their  country 
men  sixty-six,  or  even  six,  years  after  their  earthly 
lives  have  closed?  Which  one  of  those  now  power 
ful  and  prominent  in  the  land  can  hope,  with  reason, 
to  be  more  than  a  swiftly  fading  memory,  more  than 
a  name  men  have  already  half  forgotten  a  single  year 
after  his  epitaph  has  been  graven  on  his  tomb?  In 
the  vast  whirring,  crashing  bustle  of  modern  in 
dustrial  civilization,  flitting  shapes  of  transitory  dig 
nity  hurry  by  us  from  one  abyss  of  oblivion  to  an 
other,  and  are  gone  ere  we  well  know  that  they  are. 
Who  will  think  a  century's,  nay,  a  generation's  space 
hence,  of  our  country's  rulers  of  to-day?  How 
many  among  her  rulers  in  the  days  of  my  own  child 
hood,  even  of  my  early  manhood,  can  be  recalled, 
save  by  an  effort  of  memory,  now?  Yet  from  this 
chaos  of  forgotten  mediocrity  a  few  names,  a  few 
lives,  stand  forth,  gaining,  instead  of  losing,  in  dis 
tinctness  and  stature  as  the  years  roll  by,  growing 


332  Oratory  of  the  South 

into  their  true  and  lasting  greatness  as  time  sweeps 
into  his  rubbish  heap  all  the  false  and  transient 
eminence  of  petty  men  beside  them.  And  the  figure 
of  the  great  Chief  Justice,  of  the  man  who  made  our 
Constitution  the  living  bulwark  of  our  orderly  free 
dom,  who  taught  our  courts  their  full  mission  and  our 
people  to  trust  in  our  courts ;  who,  in  himself,  left  us 
a  model  for  all  judges  and  an  object  of  reverence  for 
all  men,  that  figure  will  endure  a  breathing,  speaking 
guide  to  the  thoughts  and  acts  and  lives  of  Americans 
while  America  is  yet  great  and  yet  worthy  of  her 
greatness,  while  the  justice  of  her  courts  is  yet  the  jus 
tice  of  righteousness. 


THE  LAST  STAND  OF  LEE'S  VETERANS 

EMORY  SPEER 

United  States  District  Court  Judge,  Southern  District  of 

Georgia 

[Extract  from  a  lecture  on  Robert  E.  Lee,  first  deliv 
ered  at  Yale  University,  and  thereafter  on  various  occa 
sions.] 

Convinced  that  in  the  field  the  army  of  Lee  is  un 
conquerable,  General  Grant  swiftly  transfers  his  army 
to  the  south  of  the  James.  He  intends  to  surprise 
Petersburg  and  compel  the  evacuation  of  Richmond. 
But  Lee's  penetration  is  not  at  fault.  The  slumbers 
of  the  people  of  the  Confederate  capital  are  disturbed 
by  the  tramp  of  marching  thousands.  It  is  the  tire 
less  quickstep  of  Lee's  fighters  hastening  at  top  speed 
to  find  their  foe.  In  all  the  history  of  human  strife, 
never  was  march  more  fateful.  The  steam  flotilla 
and  the  pontoon  bridges  of  General  Grant  have  given 
his  army  a  start  of  many  hours.  He  is  now  south 
of  the  James.  Petersburg,  gateway  to  the  Confeder- 


Emory  Speer  333 

ate  capitol,  is  almost  within  his  grasp.  Lee's  army 
is  north  of  the  river  many  miles  away.  The  most 
untutored  of  all  those  desperate  men  knows  the  dan 
ger  to  their  cause,  as  well  as  Lee  himself.  No  sound 
in  those  fierce  ranks,  save  the  clank  of  accouterments, 
the  tread  of  rushing  thousands,  and  the  stern  com 
mands  of  their  officers.  With  set  and  rigid  faces, 
parched  throats,  and  untiring  muscles,  onward,  ever 
onward,  press  those  terrible  men  in  gray.  Not  in 
vain  now,  the  wind  and  training  of  years  of  furious 
fighting,  hard  marching,  and  slender  rations.  Not 
in  vain  through  their  great  hearts  stream  the  hero 
blood,  flowing  down  from  far  distant  sires  who 
rolled  back  from  German  forests  the  fierce  legions 
of  Varus,  from  Saxons  who  had  hurled  from  the 
trenches  at  Hastings  the  mailclad  warriors  of  the 
Conqueror,  from  Crusaders  who  had  "swarmed  up 
the  breach  at  Ascalon,"  from  yoemanry  who  had 
cloven  down  the  chivalry  of  France  at  Agincourt  and 
Poitiers,  from  ragged  Continentals  who  had  won 
American  independence.  And  when  the  first  blush 
of  dawn  breaks  on  Petersburg,  the  last  stronghold  of 
the  Confederacy,  and  the  charging  columns  of  Grant 
rush  to  the  attack,  up  rises  from  the  trenches  the 
rebel  yell,  out  breaks  the  riven  battle  flags,  down 
come  the  rifles  with  steady  aim,  and  forth  blaze  the 
withering  volleys  which  tell  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac  that  the  men  of  Manassas,  Fredericksburg,  An- 
tietam,  Chancellorsville,  the  Wilderness,  Spottsyl- 
vania,  and  Cold  Harbor  have  again  arrived  on  time. 
As  predicted  by  General  Lee,  the  siege  of  Peters 
burg  is  but  a  question  of  days.  Held  by  a  mistaken 
policy  immovably  in  his  lines,  his  unequaled  powers 
as  a  strategist  are  now  of  no  avail.  His  enemy  finds 
him  at  will.  His  bright  sword,  whose  lightning  play 
for  so  long  has  parried  every  thrust,  and  again  and 
again  has  flashed  over  the  guard,  and  disabled  his 


334  Oratory  of  the  South 

foe,  now  held  fast  as  if  on  an  anvil,  may  be  shattered 
by  the  hammer  of  Grant.  His  is  soon  a  phantom 
army.  The  lean  and  hungry  faces  seem  to  belong 
to  shadows  without  bodies.  The  winter  falls,  their 
uniform  is  a  rude  patchwork  of  rags.  On  those  rare 
occasions  when  there  are  cattle  to  kill,  the  green 
hides  are  eagerly  seized  and  fashioned  into  rough 
buskins  to  protect  bare  and  bleeding  feet  from  the 
stony  and  frozen  ground.  Often  their  ration  is  a 
little  parched  corn,  sometimes  corn  on  the  cob. 
Jocular  to  the  last,  "Les  Miserables,"  they  call  them 
selves,  appropriating,  with  pronunciation  which 
would  have  startled  the  author,  the  title  of  Victor 
Hugo's  famous  novel,  which,  reprinted  in  Richmond 
on  wrapping  paper,  affords  some  of  them  solace 
through  those  awful  days. 

"Day  and  night,  for  months,"  writes  one  of  Lee's 
biographers,  "an  incessant  fire  without  one  break 
rained  down  upon  them  all  known  means  of  destruc 
tion.  Their  constancy  during  those  dismal  days  of 
winter  never  failed.  Night  came,  they  lay  down  in 
their  trenches  where  cold  and  the  enemy's  shells  left 
them  no  repose.  Snow,  hail,  wind,  rain,  cannon  fire, 
starvation,  they  had  to  bear  all  without  a  ray  of 
hope." 

Their  lines  stretch  from  below  Richmond,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  James,  to  Hatchers  Run  far  to  the 
south  of  Petersburg.  In  front  of  them,  supplied 
with  every  comfort  and  every  munition  of  war,  is 
a  mighty  army.  In  many  places  the  Federal  and 
Confederate  lines  are  not  a  dozen  yards  apart. 
Finally,  with  thirty-three  thousand  men,  Lee  is  hold 
ing  forty  miles  of  trenches,  and  every  night  his  men 
unroll  their  thin  blankets  and  unloose  their  shoe 
strings,  with  deep  forbodings  of  what  the  morrow 
may  bring.  Officers  and  men  know  that  the  end  is 
at  hand,  but  their  desperate  courage  never  falters, 


Emory  Speer  335 

and  when  at  last  the  powerful  army  of  Sheridan  is 
detached  to  assail  his  right  flank,  and  Lee  is  com 
pelled  to  withdraw  the  infantry  from  his  line  to  meet 
this  movement,  in  the  absence  of  defenders  Grant 
as  if  on  parade  marches  over  the  Confederate  lines, 
Richmond  falls,  and  after  a  brief  interval  of  heroic 
unavailing  strife  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  is 
annihilated.  The  fearless  remnant  of  his  worn  and 
wasted  veterans,  surrounded  at  Appomattox  by  ten 
times  their  number,  without  a  word  of  unkindness 
from  their  brave  foemen,  whom  they  had  so  often  de 
feated,  so  long  held  at  bay,  with  all  the  honors  of 
war,  surrender  their  battle-riven  standards. 

Then  came  that  ever  to  be  remembered  scene, 
when  his  loving  veterans  gather  at  the  side  of  their 
General,  press  his  hands,  touch  his  clothing,  and 
caress  his  horse.  In  simple  manly  words  he  said, 
"Men,  we  have  fought  through  the  war  together. 
I  have  done  my  best  for  you.  My  heart  is  too  full 
to  say  more."  And  then  came  the  last  order  to  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  read  through  tears 
which  wash  the  grime  of  battle  from  the  veterans' 
faces :  not  tears  of  anger  or  humiliation,  but  tears 
of  sympathy  for  him,  of  exultation  and  pride  for  the 
martial  honor,  even  to  the  humblest  private,  his 
leadership  had  won;  honor  preserved  to  them  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  by  the  terms  of  the  surrender, 
the  proudest  heritage  to  the  latest  times  of  that  hero 
strain.  Aye,  more,  a  heritage  of  valor  and  potency 
now  and  forever  at  the  command  of  our  reunited 
land,  which  the  powers  of  earth  may  well  heed  in 
all  the  contingencies  threatening  to  our  welfare  the 
future  may  have  in  store. 

And  then  came  that  sad  autumnal  day  so  many 
years  ago,  yet  so  near  to  us  who  wore  the  gray,  as 
standing  with  wife  and  loved  ones  to  invoke  on  his 
frugal  table  the  blessing  of  the  Master  he  loved  and 


336  Oratory  of  the  South 

served,  he  sank  to  rise  no  more.  Oh,  what  then  did 
foe  and  friend  say  of  Lee?  Much  was  said,  but  all 
was  said  by  one,  in  the  words  of  the  Arthurian 
legend: 

"Ah,  Sir  Lancelot,  there  thou  liest.  Thou  wert 
head  of  all  Christian  knights,  and  now,  I  dare  say, 
thou  wert  the  courtliest  knight  that  ever  bare  shield 
.  .  .  and  thou  wert  the  kindest  man  that  ever 
strake  with  sword;  and  thou  wert  the  goodliest  per 
son  that  ever  came  among  press  of  knights ;  and  thou 
wert  the  meekest  man  and  the  gentlest  that  ever  ate 
in  hall  among  ladies;  and  thou  wert  the  sternest 
knight  to  thy  mortal  foe  that  ever  put  spear  in  rest." 


, 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  durun  lite  laat  dUto  ftnmpad  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  whicji^ejpewel. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


,   • 


v    r  ^ 


.V.J 


MAY  1    b4  -10  AM 


DCC  12  1967 


SNAG 


|  ip.pAP?y  i  i/5£  ^NlV 

FFR  1  6  1994 

CIRCULATION  D€PJT 

LD  2IA-40m-ll,'63 
(E1602slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


-» 


M77369 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


